Glass 




SERMONS 

AND 

CHARGES, 

BY 

THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, 

THOMAS FANSHAW MIDDLETON, D.D. 

LATE LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 
WITH 

MEMOIRS OF HIS LIFE, 

BY 

HENRY KAYE BONNEY, D.D. 

ARCHDEACON OF BEDFORD. 



LONDON. 

PRINTED FOR 

LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, 

PATERNO STER-ROW. 

1824. 



Exchange 
Western Ont: Univ. Library 

jfl'N 1-4 1939 



London : 
Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoodi 
New- Street- Square. 



fir 



PREFACE. 



It is probable that the members of the church of 
England, and particularly the clergy, expect more 
of Bishop Middleton's writings than have already 
appeared in print. 

A solemn injunction in his will prevents the ful- 
filment of these expectations ; and all that can now 
be offered, is a collection of his sermons and charges, 
&c. which were made public by himself. 

The remaining part of his works are " The Country 
Spectator,'* and " The Doctrine of the Greek Article." 
The former, not being wholly the production of his 
own pen, is omitted in this publication. The latter 
is reserved for another volume of his works. 

Although the name of the first Protestant bishop 
of India, will be handed down to future ages by the 
monuments of his piety and exertion which remain 
in that country, yet it is thought due to his virtues, 
that memoirs of his life should be prefixed to this 
volume ; and it should explicitly be stated, that the 
information they contain is authentic. 

Not only the writer's personal friendship with 
Bishop Middleton, but the many valuable papers 

A g 



131 



iv 



PREFACE. 



communicated to him by favour of the Rev. H. H. 

Norris, of Hackney, enable him to assert this without 
hesitation ; and he is only doing justice to the worth 
of that zealous member of the church, when he takes 
this opportunity of acknowledging, with gratitude, 
the kind and valuable assistance which he has afforded 
in the prosecution of this work. 

King's Cliffe, Sept. 6th, 1824, 



CONTENTS. 



SERMONS. 

I. The Blessing and the Curse : a sermon preached at the cathe- 
dral church of Norwich, on Thursday, November 29th, 1798. 

The day of the General Thanksgiving Page 5 

" I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I 
" have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing : 
" therefore choose life ; that both thou and thy seed may live : 
" that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou 
" mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto 
" him : for he is thy life and the length of thy days : that thou 
" mayest dwell in the land, which the Lord sware unto thy 
" fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.'* 
Deut. xxx. 1 9, 20. 
II. Christ divided : a sermon preached at the Triennial Visitation 
of the Lord Bishop of Lincoln at Grantham^ June, 1809. 21 
" Is Christ divided?" 1 Cor.i. 13. 

III. National Providence : a sermon preached at St. John's cathe- 

dral in Calcutta, on the 13th April, 1815; being the day ap- 
pointed by proclamation of His Excellency the Right Hon. the 
Governor-General, for a General Thanksgiving throughout 
the Hon. Company's Territories in India, for the great and 

public blessings of peace in Europe 43 

" And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on 
" all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times be- 
" fore appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ; that 
" they should seek the Lord." Acts xvii. 26, 27. 

IV. Righteousness and Salvation : a sermon preached at Colombo, 

at the church in the Fort, Sunday, October 27th, 1816.... 61 
" For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's 
" sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth 
" as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that bum- 
" eth." Isaiah lxii. 1. 

g 2 



CONTENTS. 



V. A Sermon preached at St. George's church in Prince of Wales's 

Island, on Sunday, May 16th, 1819 Page SI 

" Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ ; 
" that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may 
" hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with 
" one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel." 
Philippians i. 27. 

VI. A Sermon preached at St. Thomas's church, Bombay, before the 
Society for the Education of the Poor, on the 18th March, 

1821; being the second Sunday in Lent 95 

" Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruc- 
" tion." Matt. vii. 13. 
VII. The manifold Wisdom of God made known by the Church: 
a Sermon preached at the cathedral church of Calcutta, on 
the 3d day of December, 1820; being the first Sunday in Advent. 

109 

" To the intent, that unto the principalities and powers in hea- 
" venly places, might be known by the church the manifold 
" wisdom of God." Eph.iii. 10. 

CHARGES. 

I. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Hunt- 

ingdon, at the Primary Visitation, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th 
of May, 1812 149 

II. A Charge delivered before the Society for Promoting Christian 

Knowledge, on the 23d March, 1 813, to the Rev. C. A. Jacobi, 
then about to proceed, as one of their Missionaries, to India. 

169 

III. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Calcutta, at 

Calcutta, 7th December, 1815; at Madras, 11th January; and 
at Bombay, 13th June, 1816; at the Primary Visitation, &c. 

189 

IV. A Charge delivered to the Clergy at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, 

and Colombo, in 1819 and 1821 213 

V. A Charge delivered to the Clergy at Calcutta, in December, 1821. 

231 

ADDRESSES. 

I. An Address to the Children of the several Schools in Calcutta, 
who were catechised in the Cathedral during Lent, 1817. 

251 



CONTENTS. 



cxvii 



II. An Address delivered to the Persons confirmed at the Triennial 
Confirmation, holden in the cathedral church of Calcutta, 
1818 Page 265 

III. An Address delivered to the Persons confirmed at the Triennial 

Confirmation, holden in the cathedral church at Calcutta, on 
18th December, 1821 277 

IV. An Address to the Parishioners of St. Pancras, Middlesex, on the 

subject of an Application to Parliament for a new Church, &c. 
1812 293 

V. A Letter addressed to the Rev. Anthony Hamilton, Secretary 

to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts , 315 



PLATES. 



Bishop Middleton to face the Title. 

The Rajah and Schwartz p. xli. Memoirs. 

The College p. xc. Memoirs, 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE; 



A 

SERMON, 

PREACHED AT THE 

CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF NORWICH, 

On Thursday, November 29. 1798, 

THE DAY OF THE 

GENERAL THANKSGIVING. 



TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL 

JOHN BROWNE, ESQ. MAYOR, 

THE SHERIFFS, 
AND THE ALDERMEN, 
OF THE CITY OF NORWICH, 

THE FOLLOWING SERMON 
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
BY THEIR VERY OBEDIENT AND HUMBLE SERVANT, 

THE AUTHOR 



B 2 



NORWICH. 

At a Court of Mayoralty, held the 1st of December, 1798, 

Resolved — That the Thanks of this Court be presented to the 
Reverend T. F. Middleton for the Sermon preached by him at 
the Cathedral on Thursday the 29th of November last, being 
Thanksgiving Day. And in cojiformity to the unanimous wish 
of the May or , Sheriffs, and Aldermen then present, he is requested 
to print the same. 



By the Court, 

DE HAGUE, 



A 

SERMON. 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 

" / call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I 
have set before you life arid death, blessing, and cursifig : 
therefore chuse life ; that both thou a?id thy seed may live : that 
thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest 
obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him :for he is 
thy life and the length of thy days : that thou mayest dwell in 
the land, which the Lord swate unto thy fathers, to Abraham, 
to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them" — Deut. xxx. 1 9, 20. 

In the former part of these words, the lawgiver proclaims 
an awful truth, which had a reference to the happiness, not 
only of his own immediate followers, but of the whole human 
race. It is true both of men and nations, that they are, in a 
considerable degree, the authors of their own fortunes. Before 
individuals at their entrance into the world, and before com- 
munities in their political career are set life and death, a 
blessing and a curse. To both of them prudence and virtue 
afford a reasonable hope of prosperity ; and both of them by 
folly and depravity, are menaced with ultimate ruin. 

It is certain, nevertheless, that not only the natural but 
the moral world is subject to the agency of disturbing causes. 
It is these, which in the former sometimes render fallacious 
our nicest computations, and in the latter disappoint our 
fairest hopes. Our own good conduct is not always sufficient 
to ensure our success. In society, men are connected with 
each other by common interests and endless dependencies. 
The misconduct, or even the misfortunes of one man may be 
pregnant with consequences fatal to many ; and we can never 
affirm, that we are secure in the possession of any temporal 
good, merely because we have used every precaution, which 
probity and prudence suggest. — If such be the condition of 

b 3 



6 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



individuals, still more is it that of communities. Exposed to 
all the consequences, with which private happiness is threat- 
ened, they have not, and they cannot have, the same power of 
restraining the violence and injustice of each other, which is 
afforded the individual by the laws. It is essential to their 
independence, and even to their existence, that they should 
remain insubordinate among themselves, no less than that their 
internal subordination should be complete. Societies, there- 
fore, obnoxious to the caprice of their ambitious neighbours, 
have no tribunal, to which they can appeal ; and neither the 
wisdom nor the moderation of their rulers may be able to 
rescue them from war, ever calamitous in its progress and 
doubtful in its issue. 

This remark has been strongly exemplified in the history 
of the last few years. An event has taken place, which has 
involved the interests, and disturbed the tranquillity of this 
quarter of the globe. It has given birth to a power, of which 
ambition has been the master-passion, and destruction the 
vital principle. The mild philosophic mien, which at first it 
endeavoured to preserve, was soon ruffled by its innate ferocity : 
and hypocrisy has at length vanished from the catalogue of 
its vices. As its object is unexampled in magnitude, so have 
the measures adopted to ensure its attainment been novel 
and formidable. Force, which had hitherto executed the 
decrees of usurpation and tyranny, has been but an inferior 
engine of its malignity. It has devised a system of policy, 
calculated to lull into indifference, or to engage in active 
friendship, the wretch, whom it has doomed to destruction. 

It cannot be denied, that the authors of this policy were, 
in the language of the Gospel, " wise in their generation ." 
It cannot be doubted, that they possessed an extensive ac- 
quaintance with mankind, at least with the most corrupt of 
the species, and a profound insight into the human heart, 
under the dominion of its worst propensities. With acute- 
ness to avail themselves of every advantage, they discovered 
that the happiness and independence of nations were access- 
ible by a path untrod before. Superstition, they well knew, 
had repeatedly been made the instrument of overbearing 
domination; and men had been often animated to exertion 
by the generous fervors of mistaken piety : but never had 
their energies been awakened by an appeal to their criminal 



THHi BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



7 



passions, or by an attempt to obliterate their fixed concep- 
tions of good and evil. For this age was it reserved to rise 
to that tremendous sublimity of wickedness, by which man- 
kind were to be persuaded to divest themselves of religious 
obligation, to level the mounds of morality, to stifle the ad- 
monitions of conscience, and to deride the terrors of a future 
retribution. It is true, indeed, that atheism and infidelity 
are by no means of modern growth. A few solitary specu- 
latists have at every period been disposed to scepticism ; but 
never till of late has it been recognized by a legislature, or 
directed to a political end. But history delights in parallels 
and contrasts. The valour and enthusiasm of the middle 
ages were turned against the infidels of Palestine : Hoe have 
witnessed an infidel crusade against the liberties and religion 
of Europe. 

To the attentive observers of mankind it was evident, that 
this singular enterprize would, for a time at least, be crowned 
with success. It is the weakness of our nature, that they, 
who cannot be intimidated by threats, may yet be soothed by 
flattery ; and that delusion is often practicable and effectual, 
where force would be impotent and fruitless. Herein, then, 
lay the mystery of this political iniquity. It addressed itself 
to those of every nation, whose characters and habits entitled 
them to be considered as natural allies, or who could by 
sophistry be brought to a belief, that their interests were 
connected with its own. The proselytes, as might be ex- 
pected, were not few. The uninformed were overcome by 
the boldness of opinions, whose solidity they could not 
examine, and whose pretensions to novelty they could not 
overthrow. The ardour of the young kindled at the prospect 
of glory and promotion. To blasted ambition was again 
offered a theatre for the display of its talents. The attention 
of envy was directed to the affluence and the honours of the 
rich. The poor felt a generous gratitude to the benevolence 
which affected to sympathize with their sorrows. The pro- 
fligate and abandoned, of whatever class, could require no 
solicitation ; and the enchanting sounds of freedom and phi- 
losophy had powers of seduction, which almost shook the 
firmness and integrity of the wise and good. Thus was 
victory ensured to the armies of a government, which has 
overwhelmed with ruin a considerable portion of the Christian 

b 4 



8 THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



world. Whole nations at this hour groan beneath its yoke. 
The progress of its adherents has every where been marked 
by rapine, lust, and cruelty ; and it has shewn itself the most 
destructive minister of vengeance, by whom the Almighty 
ever scourged a guilty world. 

But not in the spirit of rancour and revenge do we descant 
on the crimes of our enemy. The duty, which we are this 
day called upon to discharge, requires that we should well 
examine the danger, with which we have been threatened ; that 
we should ascertain its magnitude by its mode of operation ; 
and that we should estimate the value of our deliverance, by 
a comparison of our own situation with that of others. In- 
gratitude, odious as it is deservedly accounted, less often 
proceeds, from stupid insensibility or reluctant acknowledge- 
ment, than from culpable inattention. The ordinary bless- 
ings of Providence pass almost unheeded. They are enjoyed 
by multitudes in common with ourselves ; and they follow 
each other in continual succession, till the cause is scarcely 
noticed in the frequency of the effect. It is thus that ingra- 
titude becomes a habit : and its influence sometimes chills the 
heart, amid the most signal interpositions of Omnipotence. 
Among these it is, that we ought to number the recent pre- 
servation of this island. Placed by nature at the very foot of 
the volcano, we have been enabled to brave its fury ; and our 
plains still flourish in their wonted exuberance, unhurt by its 
eruption. There was, indeed, a time, and still it is present 
to the recollection of most of us, when our political horizon 
was less bright ; when clouds and darkness hovered around 
us ; and the storm, which had burst upon other lands, seemed 
to bend its course to these shores. The temporary delusion, 
which has infatuated mankind, had then attained its crisis. 
It appeared, as if the fountains of opinion had been poisoned, 
and the bane had vitiated every part of the moral system. 
Justice began to falter in her decisions ; fortitude to shrink 
from the impending conflict ; and piety to droop under the 
pressure of dismay. But her fears were vain ! The Almighty 
has enabled us to endure the shock ; and He, who is faithful, 
hath not forsaken us in the hour of our distress. 

To ascribe an independent efficacy to the agency of second 
causes, is as little consistent with genuine philosophy, as it is 
with the very idea of Religion. Piety and wisdom concur in 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



9 



regarding them but as so many modes of Providence, as 
means destined to accomplish the purposes of Almighty 
power. We deny not, that they have been ordained most 
remarkably to co-operate to our national security. Prudence 
and tempered firmness have guided the counsels of our so- 
vereign. The great body of the people have unequivocally 
testified their attachment to the constitution. Legions of our 
brave citizens are associated in its defence. Our army has 
spurned at the sophistry which was meant to seduce it from 
its allegiance. The militia has extended the limits of its 
stipulated services ; and our navy, long since the admiration 
of the world, has, by the daring genius of its commanders, 
and the heroism of the seamen, eclipsed the ancient splendour 
of its own illustrious name. In speaking of its late achieve- 
ments, it is difficult to repress the rising vanity of patriotism, 
it is difficult to restrain the intemperance of triumph. By 
them has confidence already been inspired into the powers of 
Europe ; and already have persecution and intolerance as- 
sumed a feebler tone. To such manifestations of the Divine 
favor must our internal security at this hour be attributed. 
Hence is it, that our laws are still made and executed with- 
out foreign intervention ; that the wealth of our merchants 
has been exempted from requisitions ; that the labours of the 
husbandman have been preserved from devastation ; that do- 
mestic happiness has remained unsullied by the licentiousness 
of the invader ; and that the temples of our religion have not 
yet been profaned by mockery and folly : — in a word, that 
we are insulated in our political, as in our geographical 
situation. 

If such, then, have been the mercies vouchsafed to us by 
the Almighty, we can have no difficulty in ascertaining the 
nature of the blessing, which is set before these kingdoms. 
We have been maintained, contrary to human probability, in 
the possession of whatever is most dear to us, as Christians 
and as men; and, we trust, we are not guilty of impious pre- 
sumption, if we conclude, from all we know and feel, that we 
are a favored people. Yet let not a consciousness of our 
singular felicity lead us into error. While we yet stand, we 
should take heed lest we fall. The Israelites had not less 
cause than ourselves to rely on the Almighty protection. A 



10 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



blessing was set before them : and yet they chose the curse ; 
and they no longer dwell in the land, which the Lord sware 
unto their fathers. To imagine, that we are ever authorized 
to relax our vigilance, is alike to misconceive the moral 
government of God, and the primary constitution of our na- 
ture. It deserves to be remembered, that extraordinary aid, 
as it is seldom granted us, should in wisdom and humility 
never be expected : that the ordinary course of Providence is 
to act by second causes ; that these causes in his moral ad- 
ministration are the voluntary actions of mankind : that virtue 
and happiness are never so secure, but that corrupt passions 
may effect their fall : that the abuse of our talents, and the 
neglect of our duty, generally constitute our curse ; and that 
while the Almighty preserves to us the fruits of our exertion, 
and shields us against the natural effects of those disturbing 
causes, in the operation of which our own misconduct has 
had no share, so long are we in the actual enjoyment of the 
only blessing, for which reason and Revelation permit us to 
hope. Religion, indeed, considers the Divine favor as the 
greatest good : but to regard it as appropriated and unalien- 
able, or as superseding the necessity of human efforts, is the 
character of genuine superstition. 

It will become us, therefore, to employ the moment of our 
success as a season of reflection ; and we should anxiously 
enquire into the nature of the curse, to which our prosperity 
is obnoxious : in other words, — what are the habits and 
dispositions, which by their tendency might conduce to our 
ruin ? 

Of these, no one would be more destructive than a decline 
of public spirit. This evil, wherever it generally prevails, is a 
sure and alarming prognostic. It is, indeed in the life of 
nations, what old age is in that of man. The same languor, 
indifference, and imbecility, are the characteristics of them 
both: in both of them the feelings are not unfrequently absorbed 
by the same sordid passion ; and they both lead inevitably, by 
an easy descent, to the termination of existence. Far distant, 
we trust, is our own nation from this awful crisis: it displays the 
vigour and the warmth of youth ; and its general aspect is that 
of health and longevity. And yet, were we to judge from a few 
partial instances, we might augur less favourably of its condition. 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



11 



When men of characters otherwise irrepoachable will consent 
by artifice to evade the debt, which they have contracted with 
society, it cannot be dissembled, that the appearance is in- 
auspicious. It gives us reason to apprehend, that the period 
may arrive, when the practice shall be common and unregard- 
ed ; when private dishonesty shall be held more infamous 
than public frauds ; when the burdens of the state can no 
longer be borne from their unequal distribution ; and when 
avarice shall not hesitate to call perjury to its aid. Of such 
a people it might safely be pronounced, that their hour was 
come. 

A second evil which might terminate in our destruction, 
would be a general spirit of wild speculation and political ex- 
periment. The present, it is true, is not a period, when this 
evil is at its height. The torrent which threatened to inun- 
date the social world is beginning to subside and to return to 
its proper channel. The mischiefs it has already occasioned 
might, indeed, teach mankind to guard against its rage, and 
to employ the aid of past experience in checking its future 
deviations. And yet there is amongst us a class of men, with 
whom experience passes for nothing. With them, history is 
not " philosophy teaching by example :" their philosophy 
disclaims example, and teaches by hypothesis. They in- 
variably reason as if there were every thing to create, and 
nothing to destroy. It is easy, without doubt, to imagine a 
situation, in which their conduct would not be unnatural. A 
party of savages 1 meeting in a desert, and impelled by their 
common wants to devise some mode of society, might fairly 
be presumed to enter on the debate without preference or pre- 
possession. But where is the parallel ? Surely not in a coun- 
try, where society has long been established, improved, and 
refined ; where rights have long since been recognized, have 
been confirmed, and are still protected ; where property has 
effaced every vestige of primaeval neutrality ; and where the 
ties of interest are so nicely interwoven and so widely extended 

' It is not here meant to be conceded, that mankind ever actually existed in 
what is called the state of nature, a state antecedent to all government whatever. 
There are many objections to such an opinion : among others, the subsequent 
origin of government ; which is considered by the Bishop of Rochester as " an 
unphilosophical creation of something out of nothing." It is, however, in such 
a state only, that we should expect that absolute political apathy, which we some- 
times witness. 



12 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



that no institution can be touched, but that thousands must 
perish in its ruins. 

But to these and other obvious truths is opposed an un- 
ceasing clamour against prejudice. This proceeding is for- 
midable ; as it is addressed to a passion, which every man 
feels in some degree, and which is always his most sensitive 
part. Prejudice implies weakness or folly ; a disgraceful im- 
putation, from which vanity revolts. But what is the specific 
meaning of the term in question ? The savage (to revert to 
the same supposition) who should come to the enquiry already 
determined in favor of some particular species of polity, of 
which he had barely heard the name, without knowing any 
thing whatever of its merits, would exhibit an unexceptionable 
instance of prejudice. And the case must be strictly limited 
by these conditions : for if he possessed a knowledge of its ex- 
cellence, though that knowledge were but inconsiderable, and 
obtained only from credible report, much more if it were 
possible, by the nature of the case, to be the result of actual 
experience, his conduct would no longer deserve the stigma 
of prejudice, but would be an act of the soundest reason. 
Neither are we prejudiced, if we avow an attachment to those 
national establishments under which we have for centuries 
flourished, and may flourish for centuries to come. It is 
strictly rational to prefer security to danger, certainty to pos- 
sibility, and possession to hope. It is, however, incalculable 
what mischief has been effected by unmeaning generalities and 
insidious ambiguities in terms. In all ages they have been 
employed by the wicked against the weak, and of late against 
the good sense of this country with a success, which will 
justify caution. 

Finally, and above all, let us beware of apostacy from that 
Being, who no less in a political than in a scriptural sense is 
our life and the length of our days. The distance between 
the decay of religion and the decline of empires is never 
great : a general profligacy of manners is the only interme- 
diate step. That morals, indeed, are indispensably requisite 
to the existence of states is never questioned. Even the 
legislators of antiquity, who cannot be suspected of excessive 
refinement, assent to the position. But whether a similar 
relation subsist between morals and religion is occasionally a 
subject of dispute. There are those, who would seduce us 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



13 



from our faith, on the plea, that we need not its aid. They 
insinuate, that neither was a revelation necessary towards es- 
tablishing a rule of conduct, nor an appeal to religious hopes 
and fears towards enforcing its observance. Their known 
dogma, that " virtue is nothing more than self-interest well 
understood," deserves to be considered. 

Whatever professes to render simple that which was 
hitherto thought complex and abstruse, will always be favour- 
ably received, and often without sufficient examination of its 
tendency. Of this kind is the principle now before us. 
Strictly true in itself, it is calculated to mislead, because the 
abuse of it is far more easy and obvious than the use. To 
apply it, indeed, as it ought to be applied, is hardly the intent 
of those who refer to it : for so understood, it is nothing else 
than a recognition of the design and utility of the Christian 
dispensation. Christianity is an appeal to the real and most 
important interests of mankind ; and, undoubtedly, he who 
obeys its precepts, is not, either in a spiritual or a temporal 
view, chargeable with the neglect of his own well-being. But 
since this maxim is most frequently resorted to by those, 
whose object is any thing rather than to recommend the 
Christian faith,, it must evidently be otherwise interpreted ; 
and, indeed, it is liable to a very different construction. 
With an air of accuracy, it requires that interest should be 
" well understood ;" and yet the great question, whether he 
best understands his interest, who regards immediate or dis- 
tant good, is passed over in cautious silence. It intimates, 
however, that the nature of virtue is very easily ascertained, 
being not less so, than that of self-interest; of which few 
persons, if any, believe themselves ignorant. It will be con- 
cluded, therefore, that virtue is only the result of that plain 
good sense, which is daily exerted in the business of life ; and 
hence every man's judgment, whatever it may be, will become 
the rule of conduct, by which he is to be directed in his in- 
tercourse with society. But the rule of life, whencesoever 
derived, should possess the following recommendations. It 
should be plain, because it is intended more especially for 
the use of those who are least qualified for abstract enquiry. 
It should be impartial, so as not to favor corrupt propensi™ 
ties ; for then it would fail, where it most was wanted. It 
should also be universal : for else, mankind would have no 



14 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



common standard, to which they could have recourse, and 
life would be embroiled in endless disputation. Lastly, 
it should be sanctioned by the highest authority ; because 
nothing short of that authority has any claim to regard, in a 
question of the highest importance. But the rule of life 
meant to be established by referring every man to his private 
judgment, would be defective in each of these particulars. It 
would not be plain, because it would lead him through a 
labyrinth of metaphysical deductions, before it could be found, 
even if he should find it at last. It would not be impartial ; 
because impartiality is rarely attainable, where passion inter- 
feres. It would not be universal ; on the contrary, of several 
enquirers scarcely two would arrive at the same conclusion. 
And it would by no means be authoritative, possessing no 
higher sanction, than that of the weakness and fallibility of 
man. Let Revelation be tried by the same criteria : — it is 
impossible not to anticipate the contrast. 

The definition, however, was obliged to admit, that self- 
interest is not always " well understood :" a concession, of 
which the consequences are extremely important to the cause 
of Christianity. For whence does this misunderstanding arise ? 
Immediate interest is in general perfectly well understood ; 
and it cannot be urged, that we are indifferent to its call. It 
appears, then, that to ascertain immediate advantage is not 
the whole which is required ; and remote consequences must 
be taken into the account, if we wish to attain to virtue. Reli- 
gion asks no more. For on what conviction, on what security 
will men be persuaded to endure the penance of self-denial, 
to resist the solicitations of desire, to relinquish opportunities, 
which may never return, of possessing whatever excites the 
wish of avarice or ambition? On any other belief, than that 
a future state awaits us, attended with the consequences 
recorded in the Gospel, forbearance would be weakness, and 
abstinence were folly : " to-morrow we die." 

For this reason, philosophy abstracted from religion is of 
little or no use in the regulation of human conduct. Men do 
not act upon half-principles. The will must be absolutely 
determined : the bias must be decisive. But such a bias can 
never be communicated except through the medium of our 
hopes and fears. Reason is but one of the avenues to the 
heart; and that, perhaps, the longest, the narrowest, and 



THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. 



15 



most difficult of approach: and even he, who has gained 
admittance by this avenue, must still work on our hopes and 
fears, if he would influence the will. He would otherwise 
betray the cause, for which he is an advocate, by using feeble 
persuasives, when stronger are within his power : a species of 
treachery the more fatal to the interests of virtue, inasmuch as 
it is never practised by the advocates of vice. 

But after all, what is the real and ultimate design of those, 
who would establish a rule of life unconnected with Chris- 
tianity ? They are not so absurd as to contend, that morals 
would be advanced by being rendered independent of the 
sanctions of religion : they profess only to expect, that mo- 
rality would be practised just as it is at present. But is this 
an object likely to be pursued with so much warmth ? For of 
all men, infidels are the most zealous : is this the source of so 
much ardour and so much industry ? It cannot be : reason 
forbids it : every effect has its cause ; every action has its 
motive ; and theirs is left to our conjecture. The task, per- 
haps, is not arduous. It was justly remarked in another 
country, " If you wish to accomplish a revolution, you must 
begin by the overthrow of the Catholic faith." 1 

To conclude, then, let us advert to the condition, in which 
Providence has been pleased to place the people of this island* 
A blessing is set before us ; and we feel its benign effects. A 
curse likewise hangs over us ; though the period of its fall, 
we trust, is far remote. Even now does the Sovereign Dis- 
poser of events seem graciously to withdraw from us its 
menacing form. Yet let us not forget that grace acts not 
by compulsion ; but that the will is free : and that if by sel- 
fishness, folly, or impiety, we once renounce the blessing, it 
may be vain to deprecate the curse. 

1 " Sivous voulez une Revoluticm, ilfaut decatholiser la France." Mira- 
beau. It can hardly be contended, that this was meant only against the errors 
of Popery : Mirabeau has no pretension to be classed with Luther or Calvin. 



CHRIST DIVIDED: 



A 

SERMON, 

PREACHED AT 

THE TRIENNIAL VISITATION 

OF THE 

LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN, 
At GRANTHAM, in JUNE, 1809. 



C 



TO 

THE RIGHT REVEREND 

GEORGE, LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN, 

&c, &c. &c. 
THE FOLLOWING SERMON, 
PUBLISHED 

WITH THE SANCTION OF HIS LORDSHIP'S APPROBATION, 
AND AT THE REQUEST OF THE CLERGY PRESENT, 

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
BY 

HIS lordship's 

MUCH OBLIGED 
AND VERY DUTIFUL SERVANT, 

THE AUTHOR. 

Tansor Parsonage, 
March 27. 1810. 



c 2 



CHRIST DIVIDED: 



A 

VISITATION SERMON, &c. 



Is Christ divided ? — 1 Cor. i. 1 3. 

They, who have examined the venerable remains of the 
early Christian writers, must have noticed expressions main- 
taining the unity of the church, and condemning those who 
denied it in their teaching, or impaired it by their practice. 
We find Ignatius enjoining the Magnesians, " Let there be 
nothing among you, which may give rise to divisions, but be 
united to your Bishop, being subject to God through him in 
Christ." 1 Clement of Alexandria observes, " The excellence 
of the Church, as being the principle of conjunction, consists 
in her unity 2 :" and Cyprian, in a treatise written expressly 
on the subject, asks, 4 4 Does he, who holds not the unity of 
the Church, believe that he retains the faith ?" 3 The Church 
he elsewhere defines to be " a people united to their Bishop, 
and a flock adhering to their Pastor." 4 

Modern times, however, in this as in other instances, have 
introduced laxer habits of thinking ; and a duty, on which in 
the better days of the gospel such stress was laid, is either 
altogether disregarded, or considered as of inferior obligation. 
Separation from the Church is placed on the footing of things 
indifferent, in which every one may yield to the dictates of 
his own humour, or is viewed without any of the scruples 
arising from the consciousness of violating a positive com- 
mand. 5 

1 Vid. Cotelerii Pat. apost. vol. ii. p. 58. 2 Stromat. lib. vii. 
3 De Unitate Ecclesiaj. 4 Epist. 69. Edit. Fell. 

5 Above a century ago, in the controversy between the Church and the 
Dissenters, it was admitted on both sides, that Schism is a damnable sin ; and 
that it consists in separating from a Church, which imposes no unlawful terms of 
Lay- Communion. These concessions seem not to be any longer recognized, 
though they have not been formally retracted. 

c 3 



CHRIST DIVIDED : 



My text is one of many passages of the New Testament, 
which condemn the then nascent schisms of the Church, or 
explain and enforce the duty of unity. St. Paui in the same 
epistle, observes, that " by one Spirit are we all baptized 
into one body, and have been all made to drink into one 
Spirit 1 :" thus clearly asserting the unity of the Church 
arising from the same baptism of its members, and preserved 
by their all holding communion in the sacrament of Christ's 
blood. The first mention of the infant Church in the second 
chapter of the Acts is to the same purport : the converts, 
already spoken of as having been baptized, " continued 
steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in 
breaking of bread and in prayers." 2 In the epistle to the 
Ephesians we are told, that Christians have " one Lord, one 
faith, one baptism 3 ;" and the Apostle had exhorted his 
readers <£ to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the 
bond of peace." 4 To the same purport is that prayer of our 
Saviour, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them 
also which shall believe on me through their word ; that they 
all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, 
that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe, 
that thou hast sent me." 5 

We have here, then, a duty founded on the authority of 
Christ and the Apostles : but a question may arise as to the 
nature and limits of Christian liberty, and what extent of 
meaning may be conceded to the term Church. Even so 
early as the time of the Apostles, we read of various Churches, 
as the Church of Jerusalem, of Ephesus, of Antioch, and 
others : whence it is manifest, that there may Jbe as many 
Churches of Christ, as there are distinct nations and districts 
in the Christian world. We read, indeed, of very small con- 
gregations privately assembled being so denominated, as the 
Church in the house of Nymphas, and elsewhere : and hence 
some would infer, that the name may be applied to every 
assembly of professing Christians among ourselves : they 
allege, that the term has nothing in it exclusive, meaning 
simply a Christian congregation r but they do not observe, or 
studiously overlook, the obvious difference in the case of 

1 1 Cor.xii. IS. 2 Acts ii. 42. 3 Eph. iv. 5. 

4 Eph.iv. 3. s St. John,xviL 20,21. 



A VISITATION SERMON. 



persons assembled together in private devotion, but holding 
communion with the great body of Christians, and even re- 
ceiving the greeting of the Apostles \ and in that of others, 
who fly to the conventicle, because they abhor both us and 
our doctrine. In short, all pretences of professing Christians, 
that they are members of a church, with which they pertina- 
ciously refuse communion, are futile and absurd 2 : the ends 
proposed by Almighty Wisdom in having a visible church 
on earth, can be furthered only by its visible members ; and 
as the power of discerning spirits no longer exists, they only 
can be known to be its members, who are so in outward acts. 
The scriptural notion of the church is, that it is one, having, 
indeed, many branches, which are separated by distance 
of place, but not by discordancy of doctrine, or breach of 
charity. 3 

Hence it is evident, that national churches legitimately 
constituted are branches of the one true church of Christ ; 
and that to separate from the church to which we properly 
belong, while its sacraments are duly administered, and while 
it engrafts not on the pure word of God the traditions and 
corruptions of men, is to renounce the church in its full and 
primitive acceptation. A Christian, who should be converted 
to Judaism or to the religion of Mohammed, so far as respects 
the question of separation, could only withdraw from his par- 
ticular church : I do not say, that he would not recede further 

1 Col. iv. 15. 

2 Neither against the Novatians in the third century, nor the Donatists in the 
fourth, was heterodoxy alleged, even by their adversaries ; they adhered to Epis- 
copacy and the received creed ; yet on different grounds, the one from affectation 
of greater austerity, the other on pretence of informality in the appointment of a 
Bishop, they refused to hold communion with the Church : they have, therefore, 
uniformly been deemed Schismatics, in every age of Christianity. 

3 This truth is enforced by Cyprian with so much variety and beauty of illus- 
tration, that I translate the passage. " The Church is but one, though with 
continually increasing fecundity she become a multitude : so the rays of the sun 
are many ; yet is there but one light : the branches of a tree are many ; yet hath 
it but one strength founded on the tenacity of the same root : or though many 
streams issue from one fountain, and being plentifully fed diffuse their waters 
far and wide, yet is unity preserved in their source. Pluck a ray from the body 
of the sun, its unity admits not the severance of light ; break a bough from the 
tree, it will no longer put forth shoots ; cut off a stream from its source, and it 
will presently dry up : so the Church scatters its divine radiance through the 
whole world, yet is there but one Light, which penetrates every, where ; nor is 
the unity of her body divided : in luxuriance of growth she stretches her branches 
over the earth, she expands more widely her copiously flowing streams ; yet is 
there but one head, one source, one mother rich in the succession of her pro- 
geny." De Unitate Ecclesiae, p. 108. 

c 4 



24 



CHRIST DIVIDED : 



from the truth, than does the professor of the worst perver- 
sion of Christianity ; I contend only, that the separation from 
the visible church of Christ is, in either case, complete. 
This remark, however obvious, becomes important, when 
there exists a disposition to distinguish between the church 
of Christ, and that which has the sanction of the civil govern- 
ment ; when we hear men speaking of the established religion 
of their country, as if it were a political institution, and as if 
its doctrines and discipline w r ere human inventions, deriving 
their validity from the legislature. With such prepossessions 
men introduce into the question of conformity doubts and 
difficulties, with which it has no concern. We desire, then, 
that the case may be distinctly stated, and as distinctly un- 
derstood : we desire it to be recollected, what is the nature of 
the connexion between the national religion and the national 
government, w r hich is sometimes so grossly misapprehended. 
Is there, we may ask, a single dogma of our church, we will 
not say originating in this connexion, but which it at all 
modifies or affects ? Is our liturgy framed with any reference 
to the system of civil government ? 1 Or has any doctrine of 
the gospel been rejected from the articles or formularies of 
our church, as being deemed unfavourable to the views and 
interests of the secular power ? We believe that nothing of 
this kind is seriously alleged ; and that, on strict inquiry, this 
suspected connexion must be resolved into the encouragement 
and patronage, which the state affords to a system of faith 
built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets. 2 To 
the ministers of this faith it secures a maintenance not de- 
pending on popular caprice or popular indifference : it holds 
out inducements to an order of men to devote themselves 
wholly to sacred studies and duties : it gives dignity and lustre 
to a profession, from the contempt of which religion itself 
would suffer : it endeavours to promote an uniformity of doc- 
trine and worship, with its consequences, peace and charity : 
while it tolerates the wildest dreams of phrensy, it distin- 
guishes with its favour the professors of tried and approved 

1 A cavil is sometimes directed against our praying for the Royal Family, the 
Nobility, and the Magistracy ; but we may confidently refer the objector, among 
other passages, to 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. reminding him, that this epistle was written, 
when the world was under the dominion of iVtro. 

2 Eph. ii. 20. 



A VISITATION SERMON. 



<25 



tenets ; and, in some measure, it incorporates the laws of 
Christianity with the law of the land. In all this we perceive 
not any thing which can excite mistrust, unless in those, in 
whom piety is a weaker principle than political prejudice, and 
who are ready to withdraw their reverence from divine ordi- 
nances, when confirmed and aided by the authority of man. 

Still, however, something may be said on the subject of 
Christian liberty. It can hardly be imagined, that an exact 
uniformity in the sentiments of Christians was in the contem- 
plation of the founder of our religion. Some diversity was 
to be expected from the different conformation of the human 
mind in different individuals ; from the more or less sanguine 
complexion of their tempers ; from the varying circumstances 
of education and early habit : and even from the unequal 
means vouchsafed us of attaining to the true sense of Scrip- 
ture. With regard to faith, the latitude allowed to Christians 
does not appear to be very great. St. John in his first 
Epistle written at a time when questions of this kind began 
to be agitated, makes it essential to the character of a 
Christian to believe that Jesus is the Christ. This belief 
must be explained to signify faith in the doctrines of Jesus, 
whether moral or speculative, in the efficacy of his sufferings, 
and in the certainty of his promises ; for we have no idea of 
the title Christ, but what we collect from the Scriptures, in 
which these doctrines, sufferings, and promises are recorded. 
To believe in his divine mission on the authority of Scripture 
(and on no other is it possible), and yet to deny what the 
same authority has recorded of Christ, must be, wherever 
that record is plain, a glaring absurdity, and one, which, if 
it were not practised at the present day, might seem incre- 
dible : I say, where the record is plain ; on the obscurities of 
Scripture I need not here insist : they are best known to those 
who have studied the Scriptures most : but the doctrine, that 
Christ is God of God, that his death was a vicarious satis- 
faction for the sins of mankind, and that he will finally judge 
the world at a general resurrection, must, I think, appear to 
every impartial reader of Scripture to be incontrovertible 
truths, and to be necessarily included in the belief, that Jesus 
is the Christ. Socinianism, however, disdains to travel in tha 



i 1 John,, v. 1, 



26 



CHRIST DIVIDED ' 



ordinary track of the human understanding : we have lately 
seen its alleged improvements in the version and exposition 
of the New Testament 1 ; its gratuitous deviations from phrase- 
ology familiar to our childhood ; its disingenuous evasions 
and suppressions ; its laborious perversion of the most obvious 
constructions ; its parallelisms destitute of all similitude ; its 
figurative solutions of literal assertions; its metaphysical em- 
barrassment of what is plain ; and its popular elucidations of 
what is mysterious. What mercy the Almighty may be 
pleased to show to prejudices so stubborn, it is not for us to 
determine ; we fear that if our gospel be hid, it is hid to 
them that are lost 2 : but of the church, as the depositary of 
the faith once delivered to the saints, it is the bounden duty 
to state that faith unsophisticated by theories, unmutilated, 
unper verted. 

In an attempt, however, to ascertain the latitude of Christian 
faith, it may be right to say something of enthusiasm : the 
character of which, that I may not be thought to represent it 
unfairly, I will take from a writer, who was not only a pro- 
found philosopher, but a zealous Christian, and who cannot 
easily be suspected of coldness in the cause of the gospel. 
Religious " enthusiasm," says Hartley, " may be defined a 
mistaken persuasion in any person, that he is a peculiar 
favourite with God ; and that he receives supernatural marks 
thereof. The vividness of the ideas of this class easily gene- 
rates this false persuasion in persons of strong fancies, little 
experience in divine things, and narrow understandings, by 
giving a reality and certainty to all the reveries of a man's 
own mind, and cementing the associations in a preternatural 
manner. It may also be easily contracted by contagion, as 
daily experience shows ; and indeed more easily than most 
other dispositions, from the glaring language used by enthu- 
siasts, and from the great flattery and support, which enthu- 
siasm affords to pride and self-conceit." 3 It is impossible to 

1 " The New Testament in an imjrroved version, upon the basis of Archbishop 
Newcome's translation ;" and having in the title-page a motto from Archbishop 
Parker ! Nothing can be more imposing : this is indeed to comply with Pindar's 
precept, 

apxo/J-4vovs B epyov, Trpoacoirov 
Xpv Befxev rrjXavyes. 



: 2 Cor. iv. 3. 



s On Man, Vol. i. p. 490. Edit. 1791, 



A VISITATION SERMON. 



27 



read this passage at the present day, and not to be reminded 
of the pretences and proceedings of a class of seceders from 
our establishment. I am far, indeed, from intending to fix 
the offensive charge of enthusiasm upon all, who feel a more 
than ordinary degree of solicitude for the salvation of their 
souls : if any conceivable temper of mind have the sanction of 
right reason, it is an awful sense of the infinite moment of 
religion. That enthusiasm, however, as it is thus described, 
does actually exist among us, will not be denied, any more 
than will the prevalence of indifference and infidelity. To 
what else can we impute it, that mechanics and peasants 
desert their callings to become preachers of the gospel, as if, 
like the first promulgers of Christianity, they were miracu- 
lously " endued with power from on high ?" 1 To what else 
can we attribute the extravagance of their doctrines, their 
want of candour 2 , their spiritual pride, and their otherwise 
amazing success in bewildering the minds of the illiterate and 
simple ? Of their faith, however, we may safely affirm, that it 
is not the true faith of the gospel : it is as truly essential to 
evangelical faith to believe that our salvation will depend 
upon our own virtuous endeavours assisted by divine grace, 
as that Christ died to atone for the sins of fallen creatures. 
The mercy to be shown to man through Christ can be exer- 
cised only at the day of judgment ; and yet we have Christ's 
own declaration, that at that day he will " reward every man 
according to his works." 3 It is true, that these persons 
strenuously deny their intention to injure Christian morals : 
they are not, in general, avowed Antinomians ; and probably 
they believe themselves guiltless of the charge : the strong 
delusion by which they are actuated, obstructs the exercise of 
the understanding : else we might ask them, is not such the 
manifest, the inevitable tendency of their writings and dis- 
courses? The doctrine of the atonement is assuredly the 
basis of the Christian scheme ; and properly understood, it is 
full of comfort to human weakness, and the strongest stimulus 
to virtuous exertion : it is a check upon presumption, and a 

1 St. Luke, xxiv. 49, 

2 There seems to have been in every age of Christianity, abundant foundation 
for the remark of St. Austin : " Charitas Christiana nisi in XJnitate Ecclesice non 
potest custodiri." Adv. lit. Petil, 

3 St. Matt. xvi. 27. 



28 



CHRIST DIVIDED : 



preservative against despair. But when the merits and the 
all-sufficiency of this sacrifice are the preacher's unvaried 
theme ; when the promise of salvation is holden out on the 
condition of mere believing ; when every thing exalted is said 
of faith, and works are never mentioned, unless in the lan- 
guage of disparagement 1 and contempt; we cannot but feel 
alarm for the interests of Christian morals, we cannot allow 
to such preaching that it discovers an evangelical spirit. In 
proof that St. Paul was not an enthusiast, it has been well 
remarked 2 , that he every where lays a great stress on moral 
observances : there is not one of his epistles, of which this 
may not be affirmed : of the epistle to the Romans, which 
treats principally of justification by faith, at least four chap- 
ters are wholly devoted to the enforcement of social duties. 
I need not refer to the teaching of our Saviour, a great part 
of whose parables, and whose sermon on the Mount, authorise 
us, while we preach on faith, to be preachers also of moral 
righteousness. 3 Yet we are told, that we shun to declare the 
whole counsel of God, and that we handle his word deceit- 
fully : if there be indeed any of us who thus act, in reverence 
for my brethren I would not be their accuser ; but in the 

i Of these preachers it is the favourite dogma, that " works have no merit. 
This proposition, though unquestionably true, is one of those, which require 
some caution in the manner of propounding them. It is true that works of 
themselves will not save us : there is no necessary connexion between good works 
and salvation : <c when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants," 
Luke xvii. 10. and " by grace are we saved," Eph. ii. 5. There is, therefore, 
in good works no inherent merit ; and hence, boasting is excluded, Eph. ii. 9. 
On the other hand, we read of " a resurrection of life to them that have done 
good," John v. 29. ; " that our works follow us," Rev. xiv. 13. and of " those, 
who shall be accounted ivorthy to obtain the future world," Luke xx. 35. : and 
our twelfth article describes good works, as being " pleasing and acceptable to 
God in Christ." It is plain, therefore, that good works, notwithstanding their 
natural worthlessness, have, when they proceed from faith, an imputed merit ; 
and this is, surely, a sufficient ground for preaching them. Dr. Paley's distinc- 
tion (Sermon XX.) is nearly to the same effect; that the death of Christ is the 
cause of our salvation, and a good life the condition. It is not probable that 
either of these distinctions should occur to illiterate persons, on hearing simply 
that works have no merit. 

- Paley, Horce Paulines, p. 411. 

3 One would imagine that nothing could be more easy or more obvious : yet 
we frequently find, that where a proposition is made up of two dissimilar parts, 
the parts will have their respective advocates, while the tenor of the whole will 
be overlooked. It was thus in the early ages of Christianity with the union of 
the two natures in Christ. One class of heretics made him to be mere man, 
another to be mere God. One man sees in Christianity nothing but faith; 
another resolves the whole into morality. Human nature is so perverse, that it 
will not attend to both sides of a question. 



A VISITATION SERMON. 



29 



fear of God I should tremble to be their apologist. The 
charge, however, may probably be retorted with greater jus- 
tice : it is the very nature of sectarism, especially of enthu- 
siastical sects, to have partial views of Scripture : a gloomy 
temperament, the preaching of sectaries themselves partial, 
ignorance of Scripture from the defect of early education, and 
in many instances an alarmed conscience, are causes which 
lead men to catch at the particular declarations of religion, 
which seem to favour their respective preconceptions, and to 
disregard the rest. Perhaps it may be affirmed, that no 
sectary ever held the whole of Scripture in equal estimation : 
his business is not with the whole, but with the parts which 
countenance his creed ; and this creed not being formed on a 
comprehensive examination of Scripture r , on the sentiments 
of the early Christians, or on a comparison of the tenets of 
the contending parties, which have since arisen, will, of 
course, for its credit and support rely on detached texts. 
The case of the establishment, we think, is different : creeds 
framed from the whole of Scripture soon after the promul- 
gation of the gospel, and articles drawn upon the downfall of 
papal corruption, though confessedly the works of man, 
promise, so far as is possible, to secure an uniformity of doc- 
trine, and to display the genuine and catholic spirit of the 
gospel. We hold that " all scripture is profitable" unto 
salvation; and it is our happiness, that " from children we have 
known the Holy Scriptures." 2 

On the whole, it appears that the only latitude allowed to 
Christians in matters of faith is confined to points on which 
the Scripture is either silent, or which it has not revealed ex- 
plicitly : of this kind are the manner in which the prescience 
of God may be reconciled with human free-will ; the state of 
departed spnits between death and the resurrection ; the kind 
of happiness reserved for the blessed ; and whether the good 
shall be known to each other in a future existence. On all 

1 It might not be unserviceable to the cause of genuine Christianity to collect 
the scriptural texts on which different sects respectively rest their tenets, and to 
examine their import by the ordinary helps of criticism, by the context, by a 
comparison of parallel passages, by explaining the Scripture idiom, and by re- 
ferring to the prevailing opinions of the times, when the N. T. was written. The 
result might be the lessening of division, wherever it arises from mere misconcep- 
tion : certainly it would place in the clearest light the moderation of the prin- 
ciples and the soundness of the doctrines maintained by our Church, 

2 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16. 



30 



r 

CHRIST DIVIDED I 



such questions every one is at liberty to use his judgment, 
provided he make not his own deductions the means of public 
discord. 

But though the latitude, which the Gospel allows in Chris- 
tian doctrine be not great, more is conceded in the government 
and discipline, by which Christian societies are to be regulated 
and restrained. A religion destined by its author to be dis- 
seminated over the whole earth, evidently needed to recom- 
mend . itself in this particular by its accommodating temper : 
and yet certainly it has manifested a decided preference of 
that form of ecclesiastical polity, the counterpart of which in 
civil government has the sanction of history and experience. 
Already in the age of the Apostles we read of the institution 
of episcopacy ; in the same age we have distinct mention of 
the three orders of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons 1 ; and 
in the period immediately succeeding, we find all the Chris- 
tian churches under the same regimen. The converts enter- 
tained no petty jealousies on account of the pre-eminence of 
those who were invested with spiritual distinction ; they acted 
like men, who know that the division of supreme authority 
defeats its own purpose ; that no security is thus gained to 
the impartial administration of justice ; that the natural ten- 
dency of all power is to settle in an individual ; and that 
while it is still vibrating in uncertainty, oppression will be 
most severely felt. There is not in the w T hole of Eusehius's 
history a single recorded instance, in which the presbytery 
presumed to aspire to independent authority 2 , or in which 
the laity, so far as appears, would have favoured such an at- 
tempt. That individuals occasionally, as in the case of Arius, 
were disposed to be contumacious, affords no exception from 
the truth of the remark ; neither can it be objected, that in 
some instances we find an Anti-bishop set up by a faction ; 
for the factious did thus recognise the validity of episcopal 
jurisdiction. 

It must, however, be admitted, that a different form of 
church government from that which prevails among our- 
selves, has been found to answer the great ends of order and 

1 Beveridge's Cod. Can. (ap. Cotelier) Lib. II. cap. xi. § 9. 

2 The revolt of Felicissimus and the five Presbyters, spoken of in Cyprian's 
epistles, was not deemed of sufficient importance to be noticed by Eusebius, nor 
was it followed by any lasting consequences. 



A VISITATION SERMON'. 



31 



piety ; and indeed it is not easy to conceive, considering the 
relation between the civil and ecclesiastical government in 
nations, how a prelatical hierarchy could conveniently subsist 
with republicanism in the state. It might, therefore, be the 
wisdom of Divine Providence to leave this point undetermined 
by any positive command. In this country, however, there 
is happily no such pretence for rejecting the ordinance of the 
Apostles : still less is there even the shadow of authority for 
fanatical notions of independency and anarchy to be found 
in the gospel of that God, who is the author not of confusion, 
but of peace, in all churches of the saints. 1 

The rites to be observed in the church of Christ it is much 
more difficult to collect from Scripture, than the form of its 
government. If we except those which appertain to the two 
sacraments, and the imposition of hands in conferring the 
Holy Spirit, little can be deduced from the directions of 
Scripture or the practice of the Apostles. Decency and order 
are the only standards, to which rites are to be referred. It 
might, then, have been hoped that on this ground the church 
of England would have had no cavils to encounter : her 
ceremonies are few, but significant; she is not either attrac- 
tive by her pomp, or offensive by her negligence ; she is 
equally averse from papal pageantry and Calvinistic gloom ; 
she seeks not to dazzle the imagination, while she is careful 
not to repulse the feelings ; she recognises the power of asso- 
ciation over the human mind, at the same time she remembers 
the propensity of the mind to acquiesce in mere external 
impressions, when the appeal is made to the senses rather 
than to the heart. Yet we know with what acrimony, in one 
period of our history, our rites have been condemned, and 
the prejudice against them has hardly yet subsided : a plea 

1 1 Cor. xiv. 33. This remark may be extended to the writings of the Old 
Testament, with especial reference to the Jewish theocracy ; many of the insti- 
tutions of which, in respect of church government, bear no remote analogy to the 
form which was adopted by the Apostles. From independency it seems to have 
been most abhorrent : " Tn antient time every man performed the office of a 
priest in his own family ; but that liberty was taken away by the law of Moses, 
because it had been abused to idolatry ; and every man was bound to bring his 
sacrifice to the door of the tabernacle, to be offered upon the altar, where none 
but the sons of Aaron could officiate, and every thing was done under the eye of 
the ministers of religion and the governors of the people." Lewis's Heb, Anliq> 
vol. ii. p. 483. 



32 



CHRIST DIVIDED I 



for separation has been founded on our position of the com- 
munion table, on the use of ''the ring in marriage, or the 
wearing of a hood or a surplice. 

The way, then, is prepared for our resolving the question, 
whether any degree of blame attach to those " divisions of 
Christ," which unhappily subsist among ourselves. We re- 
cognise the principle of Christian liberty ; and far be it from 
us to cherish uncharitable feelings towards those, who use it 
to its fullest scriptural extent. Sincere and conscientious 
dissent must command our reverence, while it will excite our 
regret. If any man, after mature and dispassionate deliber- 
ation, believe his salvation to be endangered by his remaining 
in the communion of the Church, he certainly does well to 
separate from us without delay : all that can be required is, 
that such deliberation be actually exercised ; that no consi- 
derations, but those which exclusively regard his salvation, 
be allowed to interfere ; and that he use not his liberty as a 
cloak of maliciousness, but as the servant of God. 1 Reli- 
gious, no less than political liberty, may degenerate into 
licentiousness ; its exercise may be needless, or petulant, or 
indiscreet ; it may be caused by misconception or misrepre- 
sentation, or it may proceed from unworthy motives, so as 
entirely to be divested of the circumstances, which alone 
make it innocent in the sight of God, or even respectable in 
the eyes of men. How far, then, do these or similar causes 
vitiate the purity of modern separation ? Now some or all of 
the following facts must have struck the most superficial ob- 
server. There is frequently among those, who secede from 
our communion, a love of novelty : this, indeed, many of them 
virtually admit by regularly exchanging the ministers who 
have taught them for a limited time. In many instances, 
political feelings have had their weight ; insomuch that the 
political bias of individuals may sometimes be inferred from 
their religious connexion. Many disdain to listen to preachers 
whom they themselves have not appointed ; for the love of 
patronage is not confined to objects of high importance. 
With some, religious instruction is a subject of taste and 
criticism ; and the preference is given to an impassioned deli- 
very or a flowery style. The simple are seduced by unpre- 

i 1 Pet. ii. 16. 



8 



A VISITATION SERMON. S3 

meditated effusions, which they mistake for the eloquence of 
inspiration ; and the rigid are imposed upon by specious pro- 
fessions of superior sanctity. These and a multitude of 
similar facts display the character and spirit of secession : but 
of this spirit, however it might occasionally operate, the pre- 
sent extensive influence may be traced to the following causes ; 
a prevailing inattention to the origin and obligation of church- 
communion, and an erroneous estimate of what may be ex- 
pected from the ministers of religion. 

The benefits which Christianity derived from the reform- 
ation are so generally acknowledged, that it may seem in- 
vidious to represent it as accompanied with a portion of evil, 
however small : it broke the chains of tyranny, and dissolved 
the spells of imposture : it diffused light, where all was dark- 
ness, and exhibited the gospel as the gift of God, and its 
worship as a reasonable service. But to hope for good 
unmixed with evil, is not authorized by any analogy in the 
moral government of God. At that era the principle of 
union in the Christian world received a shock, from which 
it has not since recovered : a blind adherence to the church 
gave way to a captious and disputatious spirit : the necessity 
for reform, which had been made so evident, left an impres- 
sion on the minds of many, that much was yet to be done ; 
and the proceedings of the reformers were too temperate and 
judicious, to extinguish the thirst of innovation. Thence- 
forward the obligation to unity was decried as the fiction of 
a corrupt theology, which sought only the security and ag- 
grandizement of its professors ; and new factions in religion 
have continued to arise, not agreeing in any common prin- 
ciple, but that of enmity to the establishment. The diffusion 
of literature in more recent times has strengthened and ex- 
tended the evil, by giving birth to a swarm of half-thinkers 
and sciolists, whose crude and inconsistent theories on reli- 
gious subjects have served only to multiply division. 

There have, however, been many, who, while they deny 
not the obligation to church-communion, have formed an er- 
roneous judgment of what may be expected from the ministers 
of religion. Their error consists in not sufficiently distin- 
guishing between the visible and the invisible church. 1 They 

1 On this subject we have a masterly treatise by Dr. Rogers, 8vo. 1719, which 
ought to be generally read, especially by the laity, as containing a doctrine very 

D 



34 CHRIST DIVIDED *. 

have conceived an idea of purity in life and perfection in doc- 
trine, which cannot be realized in our present state of being. 
Like theorists in the science of civil government, they profess 
unbounded reverence for a phantom of their own creation, 
which they set up as the standard of practical excellence ; and 
not finding that the actual administration of religion will abide 
their test, they forsake our communion with expressions of 
regret, yet insist that they are still members of the church. 
To those who are in pursuit of visionary good, it is vain to 
offer arguments founded on the unalterable condition of 
things : experience alone can dissipate their delusion ; and 
when they shall have learnt that evils of some sort exist in 
other religious societies in at least an equal degree, if disap- 
pointment and disgust have not obliterated all regard for 
religion, they may possibly return to us with kinder feelings 
and juster views. But to those that still adhere to our estab- 
lishment, we may, without maintaining that it is perfect, pro- 
fitably suggest the means of grace and salvation, which it 
affords : we may remind them how much, in every condition 
of the church, must depend on their own sincerity and earn- 
estness ; and we may venture to add, that sacrifices to peace 
and good-will are assuredly not unacceptable to the Father 
of Jesus Christ. That they may attain only to the holiness 
of life and hope of glory, which are compatible with church- 
communion, is, perhaps, as benevolent a wish as charity can 
conceive, and as pure a prayer as piety can utter. 

But in this state of things, what is the conduct more im- 
mediately incumbent on the clergy ? That the crisis is im- 
portant, requires no proof : " Christ is divided :" and the 
divisions which exist, while they threaten the destruction of 



" necessary for these times." Towards the conclusion he observes, " that a great 
part of the dangers and distractions that have either befallen or threatened this 
church for some ages past, and which particularly alarm our apprehensions at 
present, may be ascribed principally to the confusion of these two ideas, will 
appear to any one, who will trace the several attempts that have been made upon 
our peace and constitution back to their principles. The judicious Mr. Hooker 
saw plainly how dangerously this stumbling-block lay in the way of men's in- 
quiries into the nature and constitution of the church." Even Richard Baxter, 
the great apostle of division, in his Life written by himself, observes, " I am not 
too narrow in my principles of church-communion, as once I was ; I more 
plainly perceive the difference between the church, as congregate or visible, and 
as regenerate or mystical." See Dr. Wordsworth's " Ecclesiastical Biography," 
vol. v. p. 576. 



A VISITATION SERMON. 35 

our revered establishment 1 , strike ultimately at the vitals of 
all true religion. They who overleap the pale of our church, 
go they know not whither : they become the sport of angry 
passions and of fluctuating opinions : emancipated from re- 
straint, they are ready to make trial of every scheme of 
Christianity which holds out the requisite allurements, and 
rarely find a fixed resting-place for their faith or hope. On 
so momentous a subject, and before such an audience, it is 
impossible that I should offer any suggestion without extreme 
mistrust. 

The result of our inquiry, if it be correct, will not authorize 
the expectation, that the conduct of the clergy, however 
exemplary and judicious, would entirely remove the evil : it 
arises, in great measure, from causes over which we have no 
controul ; but if in any degree our exertions may avail to so 
important an end, we cannot withhold them without incurring 
the heavy displeasure of God. 

Of the morals of the clergy I am not aware that the com- 
plaints are loud : casual irregularities will, of course, be heard 
of ; and we ought not to hope for any extenuation of their 
enormity : they have, indeed, let us confess it, a more than 
ordinary degree of criminality, whether we consider our 
sacred obligations, the force of our example, or the advan- 
tages we possess from education.' 2 But it cannot be dissem*» 
bled, that a mere abstinence from acts of immorality, and an 
outward decency of demeanour, fall far short of the character 
to which we ought to aspire. In no profession must he who 
would adorn it be satisfied, if he do not disgrace it : he must 
enter fully into the importance of its objects, and find his 
chief pleasure in the discharge of its duties ; and this is more 

1 It is not to be imagined, that such an event is in the contemplation of all 
those, who countenance the cause of separation : yet it behoves them to consider, 
whether they may not be accessary to evils, which they would be among the first 
to deplore. Their virtues are the quota, which they unthinkingly contribute to 
the work of division : great revolutions are rarely effected but by the monstrous 
coalition of the upright with the wicked ; of the unwary, who have principle, 
with the unprincipled who have talents. " It grieves me," says Hoadly, " to 
see a church torn to pieces, its members divided from one another, discord 
triumphing upon the ruins of unity, and uncharitableness reigning without con- 
troul ; and all this brought about by men of seriousness and consideration, men 
that profess they desire nothing more than the edification and perfection of this 
very church." Reasonableness of Conformity, 3d edit. p. 149. 

2 Our twenty-sixth article maintains the efficacy of the sacraments, though 
administered by men of immoral lives : at the same time it passes a censure on 
ministers, whose conduct may give offence and disgust to serious Christians. 

D 2 



36 



CHRIST DIVIDED : 



especially the case in our own. A clergyman is to be distin- 
guished by his pursuits, his studies, his sentiments, his habits, 
his amusements : if ever these become wholly secular, he 
forfeits the veneration of the wise and good, and abridges, if 
he does not destroy, his utility. Neither ought we to lament, 
that our virtues are frequently of that retired and obscure 
character, which withholds from them popular applause. The 
world hears little of the economy, which with slender means, 
decently, perhaps liberally, educates a numerous offspring ; of 
the patient condescension, which adapts itself to the untutored 
understandings of the poor 1 ; of the charity, which is neces- 
sarily confined to the narrow limits of a parish : or of studies 
prompted by the modest motive of self-improvement : these 
have their reward in heaven. 

With regard to the soundness of our doctrine, I would 
hint the danger to which it may be exposed by the circum- 
stances of the times. Independently of that idiosyncrasy, 
which leads different men to view the same truths in different 
lights, we are liable to contract prejudices from the contro- 
versies of the day : to these we cannot, and we ought not, to 
be inattentive ; but it is difficult for those, who are shocked 
with the extravagance of a party, not to run into the opposite 
extreme. There was a time when practices, in themselves 
innocent and laudible, were reprobated, because they had 
been used by papists : and in the reign of our second Charles 
a spirit of false shame so far prevailed, that men were afraid 
of being known to exercise the most rational devotion, lest 
they should be thought to be infected with the fanaticism of 

1 To this condescension it is impossible to give too much praise. Men learn- 
edly educated, and rarely conversing but with men of education, have no ade- 
quate idea of the low state of intellect among our peasantry. Our language 
abounds with sermons distinguished by eloquence, erudition, and depth of 
thought ; but of those, which have hitherto been printed, few, comparatively, are 
more intelligible to a common labourer, than is a Homily of Chrysostom in the 
original Greek. In behalf of such a hearer one is ready to exclaim, 

ttws; s fj.av6a.vw 
afxaOerepov ttcos eiVe Ku\ <ra<pes'€pov. 

What is wanted is not merely plain language, but plain reasoning ; and even this 
must be sparingly employed : a familiar exposition of Christian doctrines and 
duties, with a solemn and earnest injunction to believe the one and to practise 
the other, is in many cases the only method of preaching usefully. And after 
all, preaching is but a part of the instruction, which the necessities of the illi- 
terate require at our hands. 

5 



A VISITATION SERMON'. 



$7 



puritans and independents. There is reason to apprehend 
that similar causes in our own age may be attended with 
similar effects. In conversing with the laity, we may occa- 
sionally remark a disposition to stigmatize doctrines and 
practices which have heretofore been deemed inseparable 
from genuine Christianity ; opprobrious epithets are indis- 
criminately applied to all, who carry their notions of religion 
beyond the observance of external ordinances ; no imputation 
seems more to be dreaded than that of piety ; and the growing 
neglect of family prayer, indeed of all prayer, may perhaps 
be attributed to this prejudice. It can hardly be doubted 
that our more extensive acquaintance with the scriptures, 
with the history of other and better times, and with the 
writings of such men, as Hall and Taylor and Scott, will 
enable us to distinguish the everlasting truths of the gospel 
from the errors of a fleeting enthusiasm. 

I will conclude with a few words on the subject of zeal : 
and I confess, that the danger of our failure in this particular 
appears to me to be so considerable, as to merit our especial 
attention. In addition to the general contempt, into which 
religious zeal has fallen, from causes already alluded to, there 
are other disadvantages with which we have to contend. 
Retirement is apt to induce languor ; besides that it frequently 
conceals from us the urgent necessity for exertion : and stu- 
dious pursuits, from the great hold, which they take of the 
mind, as well as from the importance which we properly 
attach to them, may produce a habit of thinking, where we 
are called upon to act. The frequent repetition of official 
instruction may abate in some degree, with respect to our- 
selves, the force of the admonitions, which move and impress 
others : or the little effect produced by them on others may 
operate to our discouragement. But these are subordinate 
considerations : it is vain to dissemble that there is in the 
very nature of establishments, political as well as religious, 
a certain tendency to supineness and security : they rarely 
possess the activity and vigour of the factions by which they 
are assailed : their adherents are apt to acquiesce in the dis- 
charge of stated duties ; and they do not advert to the sacri- 
fices and exertions, which extraordinary emergencies demand. 
The time is arrived, when the faithful servants of Christ and 
his church must think nothing done, while any thing yet 

d 3 



38 



CHRIST DIVIDED. 



remains to be effected by their vigilance and zeal. If in the 
present divided state of religious opinion it shall appear to 
those who are entrusted to our charge, that other teachers 
are more deeply interested in their salvation, we must not 
expect that they will uniformly examine the soundness of the 
doctrines propounded to them, or the pretensions of the pro- 
poser : we must not wonder, if ignorance prevail against 
learning, if fanaticism triumph over truth and soberness, or 
the want of regular appointment be overlooked, in the con- 
fident asseverations of a call from God. Let us, therefore, 
obviate, as far as is possible, every plea for separation founded 
on our apparent indifference to the spiritual welfare of our 
flocks : let us habitually meditate on the momentous obliga- 
tions which we have voluntarily and solemnly incurred : let 
our talents, our leisure, our authority, our benevolence, be 
devoted to this sacred cause : above all, let us remember, that 
whatever be our natural powers, we are not sufficient for the 
great task in which we have engaged, unless God shall bless 
our endeavours with the aid of his Holy Spirit. 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE: 



A 

SERMON, 

PREACHED AT 

ST. JOHN'S CATHEDRAL IN CALCUTTA, 

On the 13th April, 1815; 

BEING 

THE DAY APPOINTED BY PROCLAMATION OF HIS EXCELLENCY 
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE GOVERNOR GENERAL, 

TOR 

A GENERAL THANKSGIVING 

THROUGHOUT THE HONOURABLE COMPANY'S TERRITORIES IN INDIA, 

FOR THE GREAT AND PUBLIC BLESSINGS OF 
PEACE IN EUROPE. 



I 



TO 

THE HONOURABLE 

N. B. EDMONSTONE, Esq. 

VICE PRESIDENT IN COUNCIL, 

Sec. &c. &c. 

THE FOLLOWING DISCOURSE, 
MADE PUBLIC AT HIS REQUEST, 
IS WITH THE HIGHEST RESPECT AND ESTEEM 
INSCRIBED 
BY 

HIS MOST OBEDIENT 

AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, 

T. F. CALCUTTA, 

May 1. 1815, 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE: 



A 

SERMON. 



" And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell 
on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times 
before appointed and the bounds of their habitation ; that 
they should seek the Lord" — Acts xvii. 26, 27. 

St. Paul had now arrived at Athens to preach Jesus and 
the Resurrection. A doctrine so new to a people, who were 
curious upon even the most trivial topics, and taught m a 
city, where philosophical inquiries were prosecuted with ar- 
dour, could not fail to attract attention : the Epicureans and 
the Stoics immediately encounter him ; and wishing to hear a 
declaration of his principles without interruption from the 
populace, they conduct him to the hill of Mars. The dis- 
course which St. Paul there delivered, has always been ad- 
mired for its eloquence ; but it has recommendations, which 
are sometimes not included under that term : it is peculiarly 
adapted to the character and condition of the persons to 
whom it was addressed ; it has regard to their well-known 
views and prejudices ; it appeals to their own literature in 
support of a fundamental truth; and the errors, which it 
opposes, while they are such only, as prevailed among the 
hearers, it yet corrects without the intemperance of an indig- 
nant zeal, and even without any expression which might 
reasonably give offence : the censure, which our common 
translation makes the Apostle to pronounce upon the Athe- 
nians, of being " in all things too superstitious," conveys in 
the original nothing more, than that they were much addicted 
to some sort of religion ; a very natural inference, when he 



44 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE, 



observed, in every quarter of the city, temples and altars to 
the unknown Gods, and to the numberless Divinities of Pa- 
ganism. In these points of view, indeed, the address of St. 
Paul is a model, which the Christian missionary in every age 
will do well to imitate : while it declares unequivocally and 
fearlessly the first truths of natural and revealed religion, one 
Creator, one Providence, and a final judgment by a risen 
Saviour, it is marked with a spirit of moderation, of propriety, 
and of good sense, which the character and conduct of the 
Apostle of the Gentiles show to be compatible with Christian 
zeal, and with devotion to the cause of the Gospel. 

The portion of his address, which I have selected to assist 
your reflections at this festive solemnity, has evident marks 
of that fitness and propriety which I have ascribed to the 
whole. The assertion, that all nations are of one blood, was 
opposed to a favourite notion of the Athenians, that they 
themselves were a peculiar race, the offspring of the earth 
which they inhabited : the doctrine of a Providence was equally 
adverse to the tenets both of the Epicureans and the Stoics ; 
the former of whom maintained, that the world was the sport 
of chance, while the latter adopted the opinion of a blind 
fatality : and the inference that men should hence learn " to 
seek the Lord," is levelled at the ignorance, which professed 
not to know the nature or the attributes of the object of its 
adoration. On the position, however important, that the 
human race is descended from the same progenitor, I mean 
not to occupy your time : it has, indeed, been assailed in the 
theories of sceptical philosophers, and certainly their purpose 
has been answered by calling it into question ; for independ- 
ently that the truth of Scripture is pledged to the fact, it in- 
directly involves the scheme of human redemption : a common 
remedy provided by the Almighty for our common corruption 
supposes that corruption to proceed from a common source. 
But such an inquiry is foreign from my present design : rather 
would I on this day preach to you the Providence of the God 
of empires ; of him, who hath determined the times before 
appointed of their duration, and the limits of their power, 
with reference especially to the signal mercies w T hich we now 
commemorate. 

A general notion of Providence is inseparable from every 
idea of God : we cannot imagine this wonderful feme of 



N A T I O N A L V It OVID E N CE. 



45 



things to have been called into existence, but at the command 
of a Being infinite in power, in wisdom, and in goodness ; 
and no less difficult is it to conceive, how it could be pre- 
served in the harmony and perfection in which we behold it, 
unless the same power and wisdom and goodness were every 
moment operative in maintaining it. The natural tendency 
of every thing is to decay and dissolution : we perceive the evi- 
dences of this truth in all which our own power produces, and 
even in those works of God, to which the manifest purposes 
of his wisdom assign not a long duration : our most skilful 
contrivances require to be continually renewed and repaired, 
and even thus, after a few years, they cease to be effective : 
institutions, originally conceived by policy or benevolence, 
aud maintained with zeal, imperceptibly lose their vigour and 
sink into the imbecility of age : and man himself, admirably 
as he is endowed, finds his mental powers subside into decre- 
pitude, while his body, fearfully and wonderfully made, sub- 
sists, as it were, only by a miracle every moment renewed, till 
the hand which sustains it is gently withdrawn, not in weak- 
ness but in mercy, to point to a better world. The doctrine, 
therefore, of a superintending Providence presents itself in 
every view of nature : it meets us in our reflections, and it 
crosses the mind in all its paths. — But it may not, perhaps, 
be quite so easy to form an idea of the disposmg Providence 
of God : which, however, is the particular view of it insisted 
on by the Apostle, and to which I would therefore call your 
attention. By a disposing Providence is meant that mys- 
terious power of the Almighty, by which he has arranged 
from the commencement of things the long series of causes 
and effects, which constitute the course of events in this lower 
world. According to this attribute, nothing can happen, 
which has not been from eternity in the contemplation of 
God, and what is much more, which he has not contemplated 
as a mean conducing to a given end. In the scheme of a 
disposing Providence, nothing which is brought to pass is 
without its consequences : in all which God does, and in all 
which he permits, there is design : incidents which seem to 
be absolutely independent, are linked together by a secret 
connexion ; and one regular consistent plan is going on amidst 
the apparent distraction and confusion of sublunary concerns. 
It is easy to perceive, that this account of God's government 



46 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



of the world is directly contrary to the Epicurean notion, that 
all things are left to chance ; but it may not immediately 
occur to you, that it essentially differs from the fatality or 
necessity of the Stoics ; and a clear understanding of this 
point is the more important, because it is intimately connected 
with some pernicious misconceptions, which subsist at the 
present day. To speak of man, as a mere machine actuated 
by motives without the power of choice, is to dishonour God, 
however unintentionally or unconsciously this has sometimes 
been done by persons who sincerely embrace the Gospel. 

Ill indeed should I emplo}' your time, if I were to lead you 
into the intricate disquisitions, by which theologians have 
endeavoured to reconcile a disposing Providence with the 
freedom of human action : nor am I aware, that a nice ad- 
justment of such difficulties is any part of our Christian call- 
ing. I would merely observe, that these difficulties are not 
wholly on one side of the question : if the mind labours to con- 
ceive how God can foresee the conduct of an agent, who is 
actually at liberty, it is, on the other hand, as difficult to 
understand how our freedom can be disturbed, or our actions 
influenced, by a prescience, which imposes on us no sensible 
constraint, and of which we do not even know the tenor. 
Those, whom God hath predestinated, we are assured that 
he also foreknew 1 : and the great difficulty seems to be re- 
solvable into man's inability to conceive the foreknowledge of 
God; a vain and presumptuous attempt, less suited to our 
finite faculties, than to be humble and adore. Sufficient for 
us it is to know, that while we are instruments in the hand of 
God, (and it were repugnant to our reason no less than to 
our faith, to suppose the independence of created beings,) yet 
the Almighty in every page of his holy word addresses us as 
rational and moral agents unfettered by any necessity, and 
propounds to us his laws, as to those who may either obey 
or disregard them. Whatever be the metaphysical subtilties 
attending questions of this sort, happily they have nothing to 
do with practice, nor are they practically felt. How, then, 
shall we distinguish between a blind fatality and a disposing 
Providence? Fatality excludes every idea of justice and of 
mercy : the attribute of wisdom does not belong to it ; it rests 



1 Rom. viii. '29. 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



47 



solely and entirely upon power, or, more properly speaking, 
upon force ; which it supposes to be inherent in the nature of 
things, and not to be spontaneously directed by a superin- 
tending and controlling goodness. Such is fatality ; but the 
disposing Providence of God, as received by the Christian, is 
a grand system resulting from the combination of all the 
attributes, which we ascribe to the Almighty, conspiring to 
the best of ends : in that system his justice invades not human 
freedom ; his mercy and his grace assist human weakness ; 
his wisdom is engaged in plans of ultimate and eternal good ; 
and his power is exerted in their accomplishment. The 
notion of such a Providence differs from that of fatality, as 
the stern decrees of an inexorable tyrant differ from the 
tender mercies of a parent : a subjection to fatality chills every 
generous feeling of the heart, thwarts every fair and noble 
purpose, and blasts every hope ; while the doctrine of a Pro- 
vidence is full of consolation, whispering peace to those, who 
know, that all things, whether prosperous or adverse, work 
together for good, to them that love God. 1 

If these remarks, then, be just, and have been clearly ap- 
prehended, they seem adapted to lead the mind to no vain 
contemplation of that magnificent display of wonders deve- 
loped by the Apostle. Let your imagination place before 
you in succession the kingdoms of the world. Observe their 
beginnings, their progress, their revolutions, and their sub- 
version ; and then reflect, that a disposing Providence deter- 
mined the times before appointed and the bounds of their 
habitation to all nations of men that have dwelt upon the 
face of the earth. Scarcely had the waters of the deluge 
subsided, when Nimrod went forth, as the Scriptures express 
it, " a mighty hunter before the Lord 2 ;" and Ninus and Se- 
miramis consolidated an empire, which included the principal 
nations of the East : and yet of Babylon the traveller finds 
only the fragments of foundations, and of Nineveh he seeks 
the site in vain : so true was the prophetic word, " Babylon, 
the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, 
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha 3 ;" and 
of Nineveh it was foretold, with an exact allusion to the 
manner of its destruction by an inundation of the Tigris, 

1 Rom. viii. 28. - Gen. x. 9. 3 Isaiah xiii. 19. 



48 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



" The Lord with an over-running flood will make an utter 
end of the place thereof." 1 Where also is the greatness of 
Egypt, her science and her arts? Where is the power of 
Sesostris, of Necho, and of Amasis ? The successive revolu- 
tions of that state have been the subject of prophecy ; and 
Ezekiel has declared that " there shall be no more a Prince 
(a native Prince) of the land of Egypt' 2 :" a few massy piles 
are all that remain to mark the grandeur and the vanity of a 
dominion of eighteen hundred years. Pursuing the same 
train of thought, we meditate amidst the ruins of Persepolis : 
we trace the march and the achievements of Alexander ; we 
admire the monuments of the literature and wisdom of impe- 
rial Rome ; and we contemplate with reverence the affecting 
spectacle of fallen greatness on the throne of the Moghuls : 
but from these and from the long catalogue of political vicis- 
situdes the inference is the same, that all power is of God ; — 
that he hath appointed to the nations of the earth their times 
and the bounds of their habitation; — that where the limit is 
fixed, or when the period is expired, valour and policy and 
the splendour of a name are alike unavailing ; the timid be- 
come warlike, the rude submit to discipline, and the oppressed 
break their chains : and the wisdom, by which empire has 
been acquired and maintained, seems at once to dwindle into 
fatuity. Contemplating such changes the mere children of 
the world would resolve the whole into the operation of 
second causes ; or if these, as it frequently happens, be found 
insufficient to solve the difficulty, they cut the knot at once, 
and ascribe the whole to chance : but chance has no place in 
the philosophy, any more than in the creed, of the Christian. 
He neither overlooks the operation of second causes, neither 
does he forget, that these are nothing more than means 
employed by the Almighty for accomplishing his purposes 
through the instrumentality of men : he will not exclude the 
great first cause, for that is Atheism ; nor will he deny that 
in the ordinary course of Providence, second causes may be 
expected to produce their proper effects ; for that leads to an 
expectation of continual miracles, which is the folly of the 
enthusiast : but he will observe in this complicated system of 
things, how admirably, how beautifully, it has been ordained. 



! Nahum i. 8. 



2 Ezek. xxx. 13. 



NATIONAL FKOVIDENCE. 



49 



that second causes for the most part, under the Divine per- 
mission, shall be efficacious, without which, mankind could 
not be induced to persist in the course of action assigned them 
by the Creator, and that they sometimes shall fail, that we 
may not acquire a presumptuous confidence in the pow T ers 
entrusted to us, but may be reminded " to seek the Lord." 
Impressed with these convictions, the statesman will pursue 
the measures, which an upright policy suggests, and which 
the experience of ages has, on the whole, approved : but he 
will not rely upon their success, independently of the Divine 
blessing, nor will he fail to recollect, that " there is no wis- 
dom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord." 1 The 
history of empires is no other than the history of the Provi- 
dence of God . 

Among the events which are thus ordained to dispense the 
lessons of wisdom and piety to the sons of men, those which 
we ourselves have witnessed are perhaps as instructive and 
as awful as any which the annals of the world record. It 
has been our lot to behold the exaltation of an individual of 
very humble origin to an eminence of power, which has not 
had its parallel in the modern history of Europe. Out of 
the ruins of the empire of Charlemagne a system of social 
law arose, by which Europe has been usually governed. 
Legitimate sovereigns were frequently ambitious, and they 
exercised an indirect influence over weaker states : but other 
monarchs equally powerful opposed their views, and made 
the idea of universal sovereignty impracticable and hopeless. 
But Providence in its wisdom had permitted the barriers and 
boundaries of liberty to be swept away, as if it had been only 
to open to an adventurer the path to the empire of the world. 
Every thing conspired to his aggrandizement. A once flour- 
ishing nation, convulsed by the anarchy of a tremendous 
revolution and bleeding under the cruelties of successive 
tyrants, was glad to seek a refuge from its misery by placing 
him at its head. The libertine and impious opinions, to 
which that revolution had given courage and currency, had 
in some degree infected all classes of society through the con- 
tinent of Europe : his ambition leads him to seek the subju- 
gation of the neighbouring states : from the want of concert, 



1 Pro v. xx. 30. 

E 



50 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



from cowardice, or from treachery, he finds them an easy 
prey : in the removal of competitors no feeling of remorse, no 
compunction of conscience, is allowed to interfere : the most 
secret plots for his destruction are always frustrated by timely 
discovery : the abhorrence of his crimes is almost extinguished 
in his unrivalled successes : he becomes acknowledged as a 
legitimate prince : the venerable head of that Church, which 
he had renounced, and profaned, invests him with the imperial 
diadem ; and, as if it were to consolidate and transmit his 
power to the latest posterity, he acquires the alliance of the 
most illustrious of the houses of Europe. From that moment 
the short-sighted calculations of human policy inferred that fur- 
ther resistance was vain ; while some, who could distinguish the 
hand of Providence only in the disasters and humiliation of 
their country, represented it as wicked. It was thus, that 
the energies of the brave were enfeebled, and a virtuous ab- 
horrence of oppression and wrong was mitigated into a feeling 
of acquiescence ; and the throne of a tyrant, which already 
possessed every other support, seemed in some measure for- 
tified by the opinion of serious and reflecting men. 

There were, however, persons, who, while they contem- 
plated with awe the appalling scenes, which were passing on 
the earth, humbly hoped, that the cause of justice and hu« 
manity should yet be permitted to triumph. Without pre- 
suming to fathom the counsels of Omnipotence, and still less 
to impute to the Almighty their own partial views, they 
deemed it an act of genuine piety to trust in his mercy, how- 
ever delayed, and to wait with patience, till in his own good 
time he should remember to be gracious. The people of 
God, as the Prophet hath expressed it, " entered into their 
chambers, and shut their doors about them, and hid them- 
selves as it were for a little moment, until the indignation 
were overpast." 1 Acknowledging their own unworthiness 
and that prevailing wickedness, which had provoked Almighty 
wrath, they still ventured to hope, though against hope, that 
the oppressor would finally be humbled, and that the afflicted 
nations of the earth would once more be permitted to dwell 
in safety. And their prayers have been heard. An event 
has been brought about, which the ordinary operation of 



Isaiah; xxvi. 20. 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



51 



natural causes is wholly insufficient to explain. Within the 
short term of eighteen months, the Corsican dynasty of 
France had reigned with paramount sway over the fairest 
portion of Europe, and before its expiration, it was confined 
within the limits of a rock in the ocean. This consum- 
mation, I repeat it, is not to be accounted for from the ordi- 
nary operation of second causes : it was produced by a 
combination of causes, every one of which, humanly speaking, 
was unlikely to be brought into action. Secure in the frozen 
wilds of the north, the Czar seemed to have little interest in 
the affairs of southern Europe ; nor could he have penetrated 
thither, had not the common enemy by an act of infatuation 
prepared for him the way : Prussia had fallen into degradation 
and had become a petty state : Austria had connected herself 
with the oppressor by the ties of affinity : the ruler of Sweden 
had combated by his side : and ages had elapsed, since the 
banners of England had been unfurled in the fields of France : 
but concurring improbabilities, which in human computation 
make it reasonable to conclude that an event w T ill not happen, 
are no impediments in the counsels of God : w T ith him every 
thing is certain, whatever be our view of it, which he wills to 
be. The sovereigns of Europe lead forth their confederate 
hosts : the jealousies which had dissolved former coalitions, 
are laid to rest : they conquer, and what is more, they pre- 
serve a spirit of magnanimity and moderation : the destroyer 
is not humbled, but hardened by adversity : he disdains to 
accept a kingdom, which legitimate sovereigns had considered 
as among the fairest on the earth : onward he presses to his 
ruin : his resources fail him, his skill forsakes him : and he 
retires without dignity, awakening no sentiment but that of 
contempt, My brethren, if in such a series of events we 
discern not the agency of him, who hath determined to the 
dynasties of the earth the times before appointed, and the 
bounds of their habitation, we are fitted to be disciples of that 
atheistical philosophy which has convulsed and desolated the 
world. 

But I am not to suppose that these signal manifestations 
of Almighty Providence are without effect upon you s the 
only remaining part of my duty is to direct the reflections, to 
which they have given rise, into their proper channel ; and 
this, as we learn from the Apostle, is " that men should seek 

e 2 



52 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



the Lord." The injunction is of wide extent : as applied to 
the Athenians and to all idolaters, who are capable of such 
deductions, it must be taken to signify, that they should hence 
infer the existence of an over-ruling power, cc if haply," in 
the words of the Apostle 1 , " they might feel after him and 
find him :" in the case of Christians, who already know him 
in his works and in his word, the inference is much more 
general ; it goes to almost every point of faith and duty : but 
I will confine your attention to a few prominent particulars. 

I. Considering you as Christians, I would urge you to 
seek the Lord in a spirit of uniform devotion to his will. It 
is commonly remarked, that the scheme of Providence is 
imperfectly understood. The observation is one of those, 
which, accordingly as we understand it, may coincide with the 
views either of scepticism or of piety, and is either false or 
true. If we regard it as referring to the ends of Providence, 
it is false, and it is mischievous in the extreme ; for they are 
as clearly understood as Revelation can make them : we are 
abundantly assured, that God wills the happiness of his crea- 
tion : " the Lord is loving to every man, and his mercy is 
over all his works." 2 But if we apply the remark to the 
means adopted for the accomplishment of his ends, it is most 
just, and it suggests the very course of conduct which I 
would inculcate. The scheme of Providence is imperfectly 
understood. Though the Almighty in all his dispensations 
proposes and will assuredly produce good, yet we are little 
capable of perceiving the fitness of the instruments employed, 
or of estimating the progress which is made. It constantly 
happens, that in our partial view of it the work is standing 
still, while in truth it is making rapid strides towards its 
completion ; and we see nothing but evil, where perhaps a 
multitude of causes, some of them indeed productive of evil, 
when partially considered, are conspiring by a nice adjust- 
ment to great and universal good. In a future state of being 
we have reason to expect, that we shall know even as we are 
known : and with such an enlargement of our powers, how 
shall we be moved to the adoration of God, when we are 
permitted closely to inspect the complicated machine of his 
moral government and administration of the world ! What 



1 Ac ts, xyii. 25. 



2 Psalm cxiv. 9. 



NATIONAL PHOVI D E NCE, 



53 



shame will cover the presumption, which arraigned his pro- 
ceedings ? What gratitude will be poured from the bosoms 
of those, who though allowed to see but little of the system 
here, in that little were enabled by Divine grace to discern 
the hand of God ! But the Christian will not forget, while he 
reposes in Providence, that he has more to do, than simply 
to acquiesce. We have seen that in that stupendous scheme 
the instrumentality of man is an important feature : we are to 
regard ourselves as the servants of God and the ministers of 
his pleasure ; and we are to labour with all our power to 
promote his declared and known purposes. The world in 
which we live is continually disturbed by the passions of the 
wicked, the tyranny of the strong, or the phrenzy of the 
deluded ; and yet in. the Providence of the God of empires 
we cannot doubt that the great ends proposed are order and 
piety and peace. True it is, that God permits conspiracies 
and rebellions and heresies and schisms to involve nations 
in civil discord, and for a while to desolate the earth : yet in 
his hands they become the means of good, if it be only in the 
punishment of such delinquencies, and in warning future 
generations against the dangers of being misled by faction 
and turbulence and pride. Of the last two centuries each 
has become memorable by a warning of this kind ; and that 
which we have recently witnessed will probably for some 
time be felt. The sacrifice of two millions of human victims 
(I speak within the truth), which has obtained for France a 
constitution certainly not better than that to which her af- 
terwards murdered sovereign would have acceded without 
loss of lives, has placed in a dreadful point of view the mis- 
chiefs to be apprehended from wild theories of government 
and political abstractions. But the warning, which our own 
history holds out to us, against the evils of religious divisions, 
seems from its remoteness to have lost its effect. The cla- 
mour for religious liberty was never louder, nor heard with 
less alarm, than at a time, when all doctrines are taught 
without restraint, and when men may go forth, pretending 
to a commission, of which they exhibit no proofs, to vilify 
whatever is venerable and to impugn whatever is established. 
But we trust that the Providence of God will still watch over 
our church and nation, and dispose the hearts of the serious 
and sober to further his merciful designs : that he will " illai- 

e 3 



54 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



minate the clergy with true knowledge and understanding of 
his word, and give to his people increase of grace to hear it 
meekly and to receive it with pure affection, and to bring 
forth the fruits of the Spirit and that he will impress on the 
minds of all, " how good and joyful a thing it is for brethren 
to dwell together in unity." 1 

II. But in another view of the dispensations of Providence, 
I am to urge you " to seek the Lord." It was foretold by- 
Noah, that " God should enlarge Japheth, and he should 
dwell in the tents of Shem' 2 :" how amply and how clearly 
has this prophecy been fulfilled ! How hath Japheth, the 
ancestor of Europeans, been enlarged by their establishment 
at different periods among the descendants of Shem, the 
father of the nations of Asia ! but most signally in that widely 
extended dominion, which hath been given by Providence to 
a distant island in the west. But the gifts of God, whether 
national or personal, carry with them corresponding obliga- 
tions : we greatly err, if we imagine that empire is conferred 
upon nations merely to gratify their avarice or their ambition: 
we should rather apprehend, that if the tree bear not fruit, 
it will be cut down as cumbering the ground. 3 But we hope, 
that the period may yet arrive, when the nations, which 
surround us, shall have derived from our intercourse benefits 
which the vicissitudes of the world and the revolutions of 
empires shall not be able to efface: our legislature has hu- 
manely declared, that " it is the duty of our country to pro- 
mote the interest and the happiness of its subjects in useful 
knowledge and in moral and religious improvement 4 ;" pre- 
serving, however, a strict regard to those principles of toler- 
ation, which are inseparable from the spirit of the Gospel. 
Under these restrictions, what a field is opened to benevo- 
lence, and how powerful are the motives by which it is 
impelled ! Who of us has not been struck with horror at 
the exhibition of the last few days? 5 What Christian has not 
praised the Disposer of Events, that he is blessed with a know- 
ledge of the Gospel ? How deeply has he felt the truth of 
that declaration of his Saviour, " My yoke is easy and my 
burthen is light." 6 With what gratitude does he reflect, that 

# ! 

1 Psalm cxxxiii. 1. a Gen. viii. 27. 3 Luke, xiii. 7. 

4 53 Geo. S. c.155. 5 The rites of Seeva. 6 Matt. xi. 30. 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



55 



44 a tiill, perfect, and sufficient satisfaction hath been once 
made for the sins of the whole world !" and how ardently 
does he wish, that to all the world this saving truth were 
known ! then would pilgrimages and penances, and self- 
inflicted tortures, and all the modes of individual expiation 
fall into disuse, and men would adopt a reasonable service : 
they would " repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins 1 ," and they would worship 
their Maker " in spirit and in truth." 2 For this glorious 
consummation we must patiently and humbly wait ; in the 
mean time recollecting the part which, in the scheme of Pro- 
vidence, is assigned to ourselves. It was said by an early 
apologist of our religion, that " the Christian is the same 
every where 3 ;" meaning, that wherever his lot may be cast, 
he professes the same faith and acts upon the same conviction. 
In the second century, no doubt, this praise was well-merited 
and just : we might even conceive that Christians, living 
among Gentile nations, were, if possible, more circumspect 
in their behaviour on that very account : they would feel that 
they had to support the character of Christ's religion, and to 
establish its efficacy in reforming the morals and the hearts 
of men.- It were too much to affirm, that Christianity, even 
where it is most free from corruption and decay, still retains 
all the marks of its early vigour ; and still less ground is there 
to believe, that Christians, in their intercourse with the un- 
converted, regard themselves as living under a heavier re- 
ponsibility. It is, however, most awfully important, circum- 
stanced as we are here, that we should exceed that measure 
of Christian righteousness, which in the laxity of the times is 
frequently thought sufficient : a degenerate Christianity will 
make but few converts from an inveterate and strongly for- 
tified superstition. Let immoral habits, however common 
and in whatever form they subsist among us, be renounced : 
— - let the day of rest be generally, not partially, dedicated to 
God : — let the public worship be regularly, not occasionally, 
attended, when there is no reasonable impediment : — let it 
be seen, that we have a religion and a church : — let its 
ministers, of whatever rank, where they act worthily of their 
sacred calling, be had in reverence and esteem : — let charit- 



1 Acts, ii. SS. 



s John, iv. 24. 

E 4 



3 Tertullian de Corona, 



56 



NATIONAL PROVIDENCE. 



able institutions be multiplied, and, where they are appli- 
cable, extended beyond our own pale : — let it be manifest, 
that the Gospel regards as " of one blood all the nations 
of the earth :" — let us cultivate a friendly and instructive 
intercourse with those who acknowledge our superior ad- 
vantages : — let useful arts be introduced and encouraged : 
— and let the evidences of our religion, the only religion 
which has evidences to produce, be exhibited in their sim- 
plest form : — individual duty does not extend beyond these 
limits ; but having discharged it thus far, we may, without 
presumption, commit the issue unto God. 

III. Lastly, as an acknowledgment of what we severally 
owe to Providence, and in commemoration of great public 
blessings, I am to urge you to seek the Lord in an act of mercy 
and compassion. I need scarcely inform you for what class 
of the unfortunate I wish to plead : I am to conduct you 
into the gloom of the prison ; I am to show you wretchedness 
without alleviation, and poverty pining in despair. Your 
bounty on such an occasion will doubtless set at liberty many 
a captive, and restore to many a disconsolate family the 
husband and the parent. 1 And for the accomplishment of 
so much good, -what is the sacrifice required ? With most of 
you it is that, which never can be felt, or which those who 
feel it will remember with delight when the transient indul- 
gence, which might otherwise have been obtained, would 
have been totally forgotten. Give, therefore, as a disposing 
Providence may have prospered you ; and it shall be returned 
tenfold into your bosom. At the tribunal of Christ, before 
which we must all appear, various are the acts performed in 
this life, on which he will pronounce a blessing ; and yours 
will be, " Inherit the kingdom, for I was in prison and ye 
came unto me : for inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of 
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 2 
Let this declaration sink deep into your hearts, and may the 
Spirit of God direct you ! 

1 A collection was made for the liberation ef debtors in the gaols of Calcutta, 
exceeding 800/. sterling. 
9 Matt. xxv. 40. 



KIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION : 



A 

SERMON, 

PREACHED AX 

COLOMBO, AT THE CHURCH IN THE FORT, 

Sunday? October 27.1816. 

By THOMAS FANSHAW, 

BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



TO 

HIS EXCELLENCY LIEUT.-GENERAL 

Sir ROBERT BROWNRIGG, Bart. G. C. B. 

GOVERNOR OF CEYLON, 
&c. &c. &c. 

THE FOLLOWING DISCOURSE, 
MADE PUBLIC AT HIS EXCELLENCY'S REQUEST, 
IS, WITH THE HIGHEST RESPECT 
FOR THE WISDOM AND BENEVOLENCE OF 
HIS PUBLIC MEASURES, 
AND THE TRUEST ESTEEM FOR 
HIS PRIVATE WORTH, 

INSCRIBED 
BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION: 

A 

SERMON. 



For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's 
sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth 
as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that 
burnetii. — Isaiah, lxii. 1. 

It must be evident to all, who are acquainted with the 
writings of the Prophets, that in speaking of their religion 
they mingle with their commendations of it the future and 
more resplendent glories of the church of Christ. The 
partial revelation already vouchsafed to the people of God 
was, indeed, when compared with the idolatry and superstition 
of the neighbouring nations, sufficient to justify them in 
making it a theme of exultation : it conveyed to them a know- 
ledge of the unity and the perfections of the Creator : it en- 
joined a reasonable worship : it gave them a summary of 
moral duties : it imparted to them statutes and ordinances, 
such as no other nation in the ages of antiquity possessed ; 
and they were entrusted with the custody of those oracles of 
primeval truth, to which even at the present day we are in- 
debted for the only consistent account of the origination of 
all things, of the creation of man, and of the causes of that 
weakness and corruption which pervade his moral system, 
and have led to consequences so momentous to the whole 
of the human race. Let any man turn over the pages of the 
Pentateuch, and examine it with a view to the several sub- 
jects of theology, history, morals, and jurisprudence, and then 
compare it with the sacred books of the Pagans : or let him 
yield his heart to the pure, the holy, the majestic strains of 
the Psalmist, and then turn to the eulogies of some fabulous 
divinity in the most admired of heathen hymns ; and after 



62 RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



such an experiment he will not wonder, that enlightened 
members of the Jewish church should speak of their reli- 
gion in the tone of triumph, and bless God for the marvel- 
lous light which beamed upon the sons of Israel. Still, 
however, their sacred books abound with expressions so 
glowing, with descriptions so circumstantial, (yet in many of 
the circumstances applicable only to a different state of things,) 
and with predictions, of which in the proudest eras of the 
Jewish church there has been no appearance of fulfilment, 
that to us, who are blest with a knowledge of the Gospel, it is 
immediately manifest, that the spirit of prophecy was " shew- 
ing things which should be hereafter." 1 Unconscious, per- 
haps, of the full import and distinct application of all which 
they delivered, " the holy men of God spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost 2 :" committing themselves to the 
sacred ecstasies, which possessed their souls, they were borne 
along on the tide of inspiration into remote developements of 
the wisdom and the mercy of God ; and future ages were to 
admire and adore the power, which could thus establish its 
claim to our faith and awe. 

Conformably with this account, we find the Prophet Isaiah, 
in a multitude of instances, speaking of a dispensation, which 
he characterizes as one of " righteousness and salvation." 

It is worthy of remark, that these are terms which he com- 
monly employs ; and they occur principally in those passages 
which the Jewish commentators generally understood as pre- 
dictions of a Messiah, and which the Christian, therefore, needs 
not hesitate to apply to the coming of Jesus Christ. I will not 
here detain you to inquire, to what person, in the scenic repre- 
sentations of prophecy, the present declaration may most fitly be 
assigned ; whether the Prophet be speaking as from himself, or 
in the person of the expected Messiah, or whether (which I hold 
to be the best opinion) we should assign it to the leader of a sa- 
cred band of teachers, who in after-times were to publish the 
truths of the everlasting Gospel. The context and the general 
purport of the prophecy favour this interpretation ; and in 
another place 3 Zion and Jerusalem are designated as the 
sources of Gospel truth. Sufficient, however, is it for my 
present purpose, that this is the event contemplated, whatever 
be the character of the speaker, and not an extension through 



! Rev. iv. I . 



2 2 Peter, i. 21. 

8 



3 Isaiah, xl. 9. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



68 



remote regions of the imperfect revelation, whicli had 
already been vouchsafed to man. Righteousness and salva- 
tion were, indeed, of the Jews, " of whom, as concerning the 
flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." 1 But 
in no other view of the subject could their claim to the pas- 
sage be established. The righteousness which came by the 
law, was exceedingly defective, when compared with that of 
the Gospel, and the salvation, which it held out was no other 
than an obscure anticipation of the mercies and the merits of 
him, who " by one offering hath perfected for ever them that 
are sanctified." 2 I know not, then, that I can afford more 
useful employment to your present leisure, than by calling to 
your notice the leading excellencies of our holy faith under 
these two points of view, in connection with the exercise of 
that Christian zeal, which endeavours to extend its influence 
and its blessings. If the religion, which we profess, be 
righteousness and salvation, in a sense, which is not true of 
any other mode of faith, we shall not rest, till they " go forth 
as brightness, and shine as a lamp that burneth ;" and we 
humbly hope that the blessing of God will be upon our Zion, 
from which such irradiations of Divine light shall beam upon 
a benighted world. 

I. The view, then, under which we are first to consider 
the religion of Jesus is, that it is righteousness. The original 
term in the language of the Prophet and the other writers of 
the Old Testament is of wide extent, and is used in various 
acceptations : but they are all of them of kindred import, and 
seem capable of being traced to one primitive meaning ; and 
that is truth. In this very Prophet 3 , we find that the 
truth of God is called his righteounsness : " I the Lord speak 
righteousness : I have sworn by myself: the word is gone 
out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return ;" and 
the Psalmist has said of the false tongue, that " it hath loved 
to talk of lies more than of righteousness." 4 Closely con- 
nected with the truth of God is the justice of Jlis dealings with 
mankind ; a connection which is marked in that exclamation of 
the Psalmist, " The judgments of the Lord are true and right- 
eous altogether." 5 But righteousness is also the homage paid 
to the Divine perfections in the exercise of •piety and virtue : as 

' Rom. ix. 5. 2 Heb. x. 14. 3 Isaiah, xlv. 19. 23. 

4 Psalm lii. 4. 5 Psalm xix. 9. 



6i RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 

when " sinners" are spoken of in contradistinction to " the con- 
gregation of the righteous." 1 We also find the term used to 
signify compassion ; as when it is said, " Zion shall be redeemed 
with judgment, and her converts with righteousness 2 ;" where 
the LXX have explained the latter term by a word, which in 
the New Testament is used to express charity and alms. In 
like manner, alms are denominated by St. Paul the " fruits 
of righteousness." 3 But an eminent sense of the word is 
one, which is purely prophetic, and of which the full import 
could not have been known, unless prophetically, till after 
the appearance of Christ : I mean that in which the Prophet 
Jeremiah announced, that God would raise up to David a 
righteous Branch, whose name should be called " the Lord 
our righteousness 4 ;" the same, who, according to the Apostle, 
is " made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifica- 
tion, and redemption." 5 One character, therefore, which 
the Prophet has in my text assigned to the Gospel dispens- 
ation, may be taken as comprising its strict congruity with 
the truth, the justice, and the mercy of God, displayed in one 
grand and perfect law of faith and obedience propounded to 
his rational creatures; and in default of their compliance 
with it, a remedy against the natural consequences. I should 
not have troubled you with any thing of so little general 
interest, as an inquiry into the meaning of a word, if it had 
not seemed likely to open to us some interesting views of our 
holy faith. 

First, I would entreat your attention to the righteousness 
of the Gospel, considering the tei*m as equivalent to t?~ut7i. 
Amidst this bewildered and bewildering scene of human life, 
where without Revelation man is left in utter ignorance of 
what it most concerns him to know, it might seem to be the 
first object of his heart to discover God ; to have access to 
the fountain of light and truth ; or at least to be favoured 
with a transient glimpse of order and design, in what must 
otherwise appear to resolve itself into destiny or chance. 
What am I, and whither am I going ? For what end was I 
sent into existence, and what is the condition of my being ? 
What is it within me, which thus inquires, and hopes, and 
fears, and feels ? In what relation do I stand towards him, 

■ Psalm i. 6. 2 I sa i a l], i. 27, 3 2 Cor. ix. 10. 

* Jerem, xxiii. 5, 6. b 1 Cor. i. 30. 



ItlGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 65 

from whom this wondrous scene of things must* have first 
proceeded? Or am I in any measure an object of his care? 
Such questions it might be imagined could hardly fail to press 
themselves on our unaided reason, even where there were 
little hope that they would ever be resolved. But of these, 
and of many similar enquiries, the solution is offered us in the 
Gospel ; and all that is requisite is, that we be fully persuaded 
of its truth. Consider, then, what are its pretensions to this 
character. It is the boast of Christianity, that it is the reli- 
gion of the most enlightened portion of the human race ; of 
the inquisitive, the acute, and the learned: who may be ex- 
pected to require better evidence for their faith than such as 
would satisfy the slaves of superstition, under whose withering 
influence the very germs of intellect are blighted, and enquiry 
is forbidden. Nor is such evidence of the truth of the Gospel 
withholden from those who seek it. To enter into a detail 
of it, is plainly incompatible with my present limits or design : 
all, which they admit, is only to offer you a few general 
remarks on its peculiar character and extent. You will ob- 
serve, that the character of the evidence is peculiar : we do 
not maintain, that the Bible is true, because it is so ancient, 
that nothing is recorded or known of its original ; nor does it 
rest on the authority of any individual, however pure his life 
and doctrine, professing to have been favoured with visions 
from God. But we say that it is true, because we know the 
history of it from the beginning ; a history, which is abund- 
antly corroborated by collateral testimony ; and because, if 
any single book of it could be shown to be partially corrupt, 
or even wholly spurious, the main fabric would still subsist in 
all its strength. But this supposition in the case of the Bible 
can hardly have place. The Scriptures are not a collection 
of rhapsodies couched in unmeaning generalities, so contrived 
as to elude every ordinary test of truth : almost every page of 
them refers us to persons, to time, and to place : the Bible is 
much too circumstantial in all its details, and deals too much 
in facts and things, to be consistent with imposture. But it 
is not merely on historical support that the genuineness and 
authenticity of the Scriptures, and the truth of our religion, 
rest. Whence came the lessons of original wisdom conveyed 
in the teaching of Christ and his apostles, if not from God ? 
Say not from man, if invention confessedly human has never 

. F . 



66 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



produced any thing at all comparable or similar. — How is it 
that the books of Scripture, though written by so many 
authors, extending through a period of fifteen hundred years, 
all relate to one great design, which pervades the whole, and 
is gradually developed from the fall of Adam to the coming 
of Jesus Christ ; unless one directing and controlling spirit 
had influenced their minds ? — Whence happens it, that the 
Jews, though dispersed through every region upon the earth, 
and retaining nothing of their former state, but their customs 
and their religion, are still preserved, unless as witnesses to 
the genuineness of those writings, which predict the coming 
of the Messiah, though a judicial blindness prevents them 
from perceiving, that the " Man of sorrows," on whom the 
Lord was " to lay the iniquity of us all V is already come ? 
Again, look at the conduct of the apostles before and after 
the resurrection of Christ, the ignorant, the weak, and timid 
fishermen, who forsook him and fled, and the enlightened, 
the eloquent, the intrepid preachers, who went into every 
nation as witnesses of Christ's resurrection, not advocates of 
an opinion^ it is important to recollect, but as eye-witnesses 
of a fact. — But further, what would their preaching have 
availed against the prejudices, the interests, and the passions 
of mankind, unless it had been assisted by mighty works 
and signs following ? The descent of the Holy Spirit on the 
day of Pentecost is not more strongly attested by the histo- 
rian of the Acts of the Apostles, than it is by the whole 
history of the planting of the Gospel, as deducible from pro- 
fane records, and by the then circumstances of the world. 
— Or, lastly, if our religion clear up all the difficulties and 
embarrassments, which had perplexed the duties and desti- 
nies of man ; if it may be truly said that life is an enigma, 
and the Gospel the solution ; if it explain the moral pheno- 
mena of our condition, in a manner far more satisfactory 
than any, which had hitherto been attempted, and to which 
explanation eighteen centuries have added nothing, what is 
the inference, but that this solution came, as it professes to 
have come, from God ? The Bible, it is true, has its difficul- 
ties, and they were reasonably to be expected ; though there 
are some, who allow their faith to be shaken, if they meet 



\ Isaiah, liii. 3. 6, 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



67 



with any thing which they cannot explain : but I will venture 
to remind them, that there is one difficulty much greater 
than any to which they object, and to which the ingenuity 
of scepticism ought first to be directed: that, which I al- 
lude to is, how are we to account for the existence of the 
vast body of evidence, or if they please, of presumptions, in 
behalf of Christianity, unless we admit religion to be true ? 
Has there ever been known in the world, or can the mind 
conceive, a falsehood supported by such a variety of argu- 
ments and illustrations, of proofs both direct and incidental, 
generally independent of each other, yet all tending to a 
given point ? If any man shall profess to believe, that all this 
is mere accident, we have a right to conclude that the weakest 
and most irrational credulity is that of unbelievers. 

But I pass from the righteousness of our religion consi- 
dered as a system of truth, to that character of it which is 
derived from the justice of God's dealings with mankind, and 
the homage due to the Divine perfections in the exercise of 
faith and obedience ; in other words, as it is a system of 
piety and morals. It is, indeed, not unusual to regard these 
as subjects wholly distinct and independent ; a mode of treat- 
ing them which has been highly injurious to both. The 
piety, which is habitually negligent of any moral observance, 
cannot be genuine and sincere, nor have we reason to believe 
that it will finally be accepted : the same authority which 
enjoins the love of God enjoins us to love our brother also. 1 
On the other hand, there is no real foundation for morals, 
but genuine piety and faith in Christ. Men may be told of 
the fitness, and propriety, and beauty of virtue ; but in these 
there is no obligation to practise it, even where it is most 
easy, and certainly they afford no adequate motive to en- 
counter inconvenience and self-denial. We know but im- 
perfectly what is right, except from the word of God, and we 
have no sufficient reason to comply with it, except we be 
actuated by an earnest desire of pleasing the best of Beings, 
from a reverence for his infinite perfections, from feelings of 
gratitude and dependence, and from faith in the promises of 
his Son, Let me, then, present to you, under one aspect, the 
piety and the morals of our holy religion, as they are com- 



1 1 John, iv, 21, 
F 2 



68 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



bined, and beautifully harmonize, in the features of the 
Christian life. In the character of him who takes the Gospel 
for the standard of duty, and has deeply imbibed its spirit 
in his heart, there will be no visible distinction made in 
favour of such observances, as may happen to fall in with his 
natural temperament, or be more especially insisted on in the 
world : the religious and the moral habit will be distinguish- 
able from each other, only by the objects to which they are 
specifically directed : both will proceed from the same prin- 
ciple, and be exerted under the same influence, in one uniform 
course of action and sentiment. The Christian will be con- 
sistent with himself; and whatever he may do or meditate, 
whether it refer to its secret intercourse with the Father of 
Spirits, or to the ordinary duties or business of life, the in- 
fluencing principle will be the same, and in all the various 
applications of it will be resolvable into self-devotion to the 
revealed will of God. 

It can hardly be requisite to press upon your attention the 
exclusive advantages which the righteousness of our Zion, 
thus considered as a rule of life, possesses over the celebrated 
systems of paganism. Not to insist upon their utter want of 
evidence as systems of truth, they are equally defective as 
systems of faith and moral obedience. This assertion might 
be established at much greater length than the time will per- 
mit ; but there is one difference, by which they are distin- 
guished in their mode of operation, from the Christian faith, 
which, as pervading all of them, may deserve your notice ; I 
mean, that under whatever form they exhibit the Divinity, 
he is still merely an object of terror : fear is the only prin- 
ciple which actuates the worshipper ; fear it is, which offers 
the sacrifice, and piety is but penance and suffering : the 
delight experienced in the contemplation of the Divine 
mercies seems to be unknown : and after all our researches 
into the sacred books of the heathen, which seem indeed to 
be directed by Providence to the confirmation of our faith in 
Christ, it will probably remain peculiar to the Gospel to have 
declared, in the comprehensive sense of Scripture, that " God 
is love." 1 The religion of the Old Testament was in some 
measure a religion of fear ; and with reference to pagan 
systems, in more than one of the ancient languages, fear and 

1 1 John? iv. 16. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



69 



superstitious worship, having been observed to be kindred 
feelings, are designated by kindred terms : idols were deno- 
minated Terrors 1 : whereas it is the privilege of the disciples 
of Christ to " serve God without fear, in holiness and 
righteousness before him all the days of their lives." 2 

Consider, then, what is the natural operation of this de- 
fect of paganism upon the mind and heart of the worshipper. 
Under every mode of religious belief, the character of man 
will greatly depend upon his notions of God ; and the devo- 
tion paid to the gods of paganism will differ from that of the 
Christian, as the obedience extorted by the dread of a gloomy 
and capricious despot will fall short of the cheerful service, 
which anticipates the wishes of a master whom we love. 
Under the influence of mere terror, the virtues of man 
will be rather negations of what may be supposed to provoke 
displeasure, than a warm desire to obtain favour by running 
in the path of positive commandments. Fear will endeavour 
to hide itself from God, while love will seek communion with 
him, and to be " like unto him 3 ," and will desire to be admitted 
to his presence. " Be ye perfect, even as your Father which 
is in heaven is perfect 4 ," could never be preached with effect 
or meaning to the votaries of a thrilling superstition. It is 
true, indeed, that fear is among the motives by which the 
Gospel would retain man in a sense of duty ; but it is only 
a restraining principle, and is no where represented as that 
which principally operates on the heart of the children of 
God. " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom 5 ," 
and there are many who never advance beyond it : but " per- 
fect love," as the Apostle assures us, " casteth out fear 6 ," 
and is gradually matured in that " spirit of adoption, whereby 
we cry, Abba, Father." 7 

A third view of the righteousness of the Gospel is that 
in which righteousness is equivalent to charity and mercy ; in 
which it embraces the wants and the weaknesses of the 
human race, without reference to nation, or climate, or lan- 
guage, or caste ; and is as comprehensive in its views as we 
should expect a religion to be, which emanates from the 
truth of God, and offers to mankind a perfect rule of life. 

1 See 2 Kings, xvii. 16. xviii. 14. xxiii. 6. 13., in the Syriac version. 

* Luke, i 74. 3 1 John, iii. 2. * Matth. v. 48= 

* Prov. ix. 10. 6 1 John, iv. 18. 7 Rom, viii. 15* 

F 3 



70 RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



It may indeed be affirmed that Christianity is the only reli- 
gious system, which from its nature and spirit is adapted to 
universal reception ; and this very circumstance, if it be estab- 
lished, is of itself no slight presumption, that it alone came 
from God: of course I except the Mosaic law, which was 
only a shadow of things to come. One prevailing mode of 
faith neither seeks nor admits converts, as if mercy were not 
interested in diffusing what it supposes to be truth ; while 
another has made converts by the sword, as if truth super- 
seded the feelings of mercy : but in the faith of Jesus, and in 
it alone, " mercy and truth are met together, righteousness 
and peace have kissed each other." 1 View your religion, 
then, as concerned for the happiness of all who live : view it 
as dispensing knowledge to the ignorant, health to the sick, 
food to the hungry, and consolation to them that mourn ; re- 
quiring no observance, which is not practicable in every 
clime and in every age, under every form of government, and 
in every condition of mankind ; not interwoven with particular 
civil institutions or local habits, apart from which it cannot 
subsist, but seeking all, loving all, and suited to all. 

These are the characters of truth, of mercy, and of univer- 
sality ; and let it be remembered, that they subsist together 
only in the religion of Jesus Christ. 

The last sense which I assigned to the original term trans- 
lated " righteousness" is that in which we become righteous, 
only through the obedience of Jesus Christ. 2 In this sense, 
however, the subject is so intimately blended with the method 
of salvation, that I shall at once proceed to that remaining 
character of our holy faith assigned to it by the Prophet, and 
consider the two together. 

II. Under this head a very different view is opened to us 
of the condition of man. We have considered our religion 
as a system of truth, as a rule of life, and as peculiarly 
marked by charity and mercy : but truth might have been 
limited to the present scene of things ; a rule of life, however 
perfect, might have had no reference to any thing beyond it ; 
and mercy and charity might have been inculcated, to soothe 
the sorrows of a transient existence, and have led to no fur- 
ther results. Thus imperfect would have been our religion, 



1 Psalm lxxxv. 10. 



3 Rom, v. 19. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



71 



however admirable in other respects, if it had not brought 
immortality to light, and made known to us the method of 
salvation. Suffer me, then, while I compress into a narrow 
compass a few of the most important truths which relate to 
the doctrine of the righteousness which is by faith, or salva- 
tion through Jesus Christ : a doctrine to which the whole of 
the Christian revelation tends, and beyond which the mind of 
man can hardly conceive that any revelation can be requisite : 
the Divine Author of our faith was also its finisher and has 
left no plea of its imperfection, or the possibility of further 
improvement, to any who should come after him, asserting 
the character of being commissioned to impart a further reve- 
lation from God. 

The doctrine of our salvation by Christ alone, is founded 
entirely on the weakness and corruption of human nature ; 
and these ought to be so evident to our understandings, as to 
be admitted without hesitation. Are the truths of religion, 
however clearly apprehended, readily received into the heart ? 
Is the pure and perfect law of the Gospel, while we admit and 
proclaim its excellence, uniformly obeyed ? Or are charity 
and mercy, while every tongue is telling of their praise, con- 
sistently practised ? If in any of these the best of us are found 
to fail, to what shall we impute the failure, if not to our 
weakness ? To that strange and perverse principle within 
us, which knows what is right, yet does frequently what is 
wrong ; which resolves, and forgets its resolutions, and re- 
pents, and sins again. 

There is, then, no reasonable plea for the self-sufficiency 
of man : and to talk of our own merits as a title to eternal 
happiness, impious as it must appear to the Christian, is 
scarcely less inconsistent with the condition of human nature. 
What have we, which we did not receive? And of that, 
which we have received, what has been the application ? It 
were endless to detail the weaknesses of the heart, in ne- 
glected opportunities of doing good, in slighted means of 
grace, in the omissions of duty, and the breach of positive 
commandments, in thanklessness for mercies received, and in 
contempt of warnings, and in the thousand failings, which 
force themselves on the notice of every man, in moments of 



i Heb. xii. 2. 
F 4 



72 RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



severe reflection. In this state of things, the rational as well 
as the pious mind, in seeking to be delivered from the body 
of death, will, with the Apostle, " thank God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord 1 :" he will adore the justice, he will bless 
the mercy of the Being, who has thus reconciled a world 
unto himself, superseding sacrifices, and pilgrimages, and pe- 
nance, and the whole train of unavailing expiations, to which 
a consciousness of guilt had driven the natural fears of man, 
by one efficacious and universal atonement. 

It is, then, the glory and the crown of Christianity, that it 
teaches the doctrine of salvation ; and the method by which 
this is to be obtained is through the righteousness of Jesus 
Christ. By faith in his atoning sacrifice, his righteousness 
becomes our own : through his merits our sincere, though 
imperfect, obedience, is accepted of God ; and we are encou- 
raged to hope that our frailties will be forgiven, if we sin not 
" that grace may abound." 2 

To which of the masters of pagan wisdom shall we have 
recourse for discoveries so important and conclusive, as those 
which are contained in a few sentences of Scripture ? " Christ 
bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being 
dead to sins should live unto righteousness." 3 " Christ 
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a 
curse for us." 4 " God hath made him to be sin (that is, a 
sin-offering,) for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made 
the righteousness of God in him." 5 What declarations are 
these, brethren, and what views do they open to us of human 
life ? Before them the unsubstantial speculations of mere 
philosophy, the theories of the acute and the disquisitions of 
the learned, the pride which is prompted by our boasted 
strength, and the despair suggested by our conscious weak- 
ness, at once vanish from the mind and heart, and leave them 
to be occupied by admiration, by gratitude, by devotion, and 
by love. And thus it is, that the righteousness, to which 
man attains only by faith in Christ, instead of being, as some 
vainly imagine, distinct from obedience, becomes a principle 
deeply operative on the human character, and while it saves 
us through the power of God, purifies us and subdues us to 
his holy will. Neither in the achievement of the work of our 

1 Rom. vii. 24. 2 R ra. vi. 1. 3 Pet. ii. 24. 

4 Gal. iii. 13. * 2 Cor. v. 21. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



73 



salvation are we left to ourselves. The same revelation, 
which has proclaimed to us a Redeemer, has assured us of a 
Comforter and a Guide : the gracious assistances of the Holy 
Spirit are vouchsafed to all who ask them in fervent and 
humble prayer, dispensing a benign though secret influence 
through the human breast, restraining the corruption and 
sinfulness of our nature, suggesting to us good desires, in- 
creasing in us true religion, and drawing us daily nearer unto 
God. 

In behalf of a faith, so well established by the evidences of 
its truth, so beneficial in its influence, so sublime in its dis- 
coveries, and so comprehensive in its views, the holy Prophet 
has expressed his zeal in the fervid language of my text : — 
" For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jeru- 
salem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go 
forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that 
burnetii." 

It were not easy to find a Christian assembly more capable 
of feeling the force of this sentiment than that which I now 
address : the efforts which are now made, within the limits of 
this government, for propagating the faith of righteousness and 
salvation are probably, in proportion to the means afforded, 
without a parallel in the modern history of the East. 

It is not, then, to excite in you a disposition, which already 
subsists, that I advert to this topic, but merely to offer you 
some suggestions in relation to it, with which I will conclude. 

The different nations, to whom this island has at different 
periods been subject, to say nothing of the zeal which at pre- 
sent animates all classes of Christians in the mother-country, 
have naturally introduced among you very different denomi- 
nations of Christianity ; all of them, however, actuated, no 
doubt, by the same desire of diffusing truth. To honour and 
esteem those who may differ from us in particular points, 
yet " love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity 1 ," is a duty, 
which needs not be inculcated upon any, who are themselves 
of that number. Still, however, there are dangers, from 
which, in this state of things, the cause of the Gospel is not 
secure. Our National Church has no tenets either of doctrine 
or of discipline which are peculiar to herself: they are held 

» Eph. vi. 24. 



74 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



in common with some or most of the existing churches, and 
may all of them be traced to the primitive ages of the Gospel : 
a little more, or a little less, in this or that particular, is for 
the most part all that is demanded by those who differ from 
her. In the utter impossibility of adapting herself to the 
views of every class of Christians, it is still a subject of satis- 
faction to reflect, that the moderation of her principles render 
her, upon the whole, so fit to be the basis, on which you may 
rear in these regions the fabric of the Christian faith. I am 
not contending for the violation of principle, nor for the 
abandonment of what any man, on deliberate and deep en- 
quiry, may hold to be essential and indispensable to the 
preaching of the Gospel : but if there be any thing more es- 
pecially to be deprecated, it would be, next to the violation 
of principle, the insisting on what is not really essential, and 
exhibiting to the people around you the differences and con- 
tradictions which usually belong to the character of falsehood, 
rather than the consistency and unity of truth. For the 
present, proselytes might be made, perhaps, to almost any 
denomination of Christianity : but the time must come, when 
Christian converts will compare their opinions ; and if they 
discover any remarkable disagreement in what they severally 
have been taught, they will infer that even yet all is not right 
with them, and will either relapse into their former unbelief, 
or cause divisions in the church of Christ. My counsel, to 
you, then, is that of the Apostle ; " Take heed, lest by any 
means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them 
that are weak." 1 " Speak the same thing ; be joined toge- 
ther in the same mind and the same judgment." 2 And I 
offer it not from any conviction that already it is needed, but 
in the way of prevention, and in the spirit of conciliation and 
love. 

The righteousness of our Zion will go forth as brightness, 
and her salvation as a lamp that burneth, so long as her 
doctrine shall shine with a steady lustre, which is neither 
dimmed by the mists of error, nor misleads by a change of 
position, nor distracts by multiplicity. 

Lastly, let me remind you, that independently of direct 
and avowed efforts to extend the faith of righteousness and 



1 1 Cor. viii. 9. 



9 1 Cor. i. 10. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION. 



75 



salvation, one thing is still indispensable to their success : the 
general habits of society, and the force of individual example, 
must aid the labours of the preacher and the missionary, or 
it will be in vain that they " dispute and persuade the things 
concerning the kingdom of God." 1 The most fatal discre- 
pancy which the native could detect would be a disagree- 
ment between the doctrines and the practice of our religion ; 
and no zeal in contributing to Christian institutions would at 
all compensate for the want of Christian example, or any 
prevalent irregularities in life and deportment, in those who 
name the name of Christ. The righteousness of our faith 
must not resemble the coruscations of a meteor, which is 
viewed for a moment with the gaze of admiration, and then 
is lost in darkness ; it must rather be a pure and placid light, 
emanating from the heart, which is devoted unto God, and is 
warmed and illumined by his Holy Spirit. Let it, then, be 
manifest in every one of you, beloved, that you sincerely 
embrace the righteousness of the Gospel, its truth, its morals, 
and its mercy, and that you trust for your salvation to the 
" Lord our righteousness," even Jesus Christ. With these 
precautions the cause of your Redeemer will prosper in your 
hands : all things manifestly conspire to its success ; zeal, 
exertion, liberality, and (what I cannot allow myself to sup- 
press) the sanction of the highest authority and the encou- 
ragement of a bright example. May the Almighty bless 
these means, which he alone could have supplied, and make 
you instruments of revealing to those, who are still in dark- 
ness, the glory of our Zion, that so it may radiate from this 
favoured spot, and be visible throughout the Eastern world f 



1 Acts, xix. 8. 



SERMON, 

PREACHED AT 

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, 
in 

PRINCE OF WALES 5 S ISLAND, 

On Sunday, May 16. 1819. 

By THOMAS FANSHAW, 

LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



TO 

THE HONOURABLE 

JOHN ALEXANDER BANNERMAN, Esq, 

GOVERNOR OF PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND 
AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, 

THE FOLLOWING SERMON, 

MADE TUBLIC AT HIS REQUEST, 
IS, WITH MUCH RESPECT AND ESTEEM, 

INSCRIBED 
BY 

HIS OBEDIENT 

AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, 

T. F. CALCUTTA, 

Calcutta, 
July 26. 1819, 



SERMON, &c. 



Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of 
Christ ; that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, 
I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, 
with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel. 
— Philippians E 27. 

Philippi, a town of Macedonia, was the first place at which 
St. Paul preached on the continent of Europe ; and there, 
finding numerous converts, he was enabled to establish a 
Christian church. To this community the present Epistle 
was addressed. The Apostle was then a prisoner at Rome : 
the Philippians, sensible of the blessings, which they enjoyed 
under the Gospel, and actuated by feelings of gratitude and 
commiseration towards him, from whom they had derived 
these blessings, sent a messenger to administer to his neces- 
sities : and to acknowledge this act of kindness was the Apos- 
tle's immediate object in writing to the Philippians. It was, 
however, to be expected from such a man as St. Paul, that 
he would avail himself of the opportunity thus afforded him 
of giving them fresh proofs of his regard, by endeavouring to 
confirm them in their faith, by enforcing anew the doctrines 
of the Gospel, and by offering them such pastoral admoni- 
tions, as he conceived their present state to demand. It was^ 
highly probable, that he might never see them again ; to this 
circumstance he refers in my text ; but present or absent, he 
should feel a solicitude for their Christian welfare : and he 
gives them in the mean time such counsel, as their welfare, 
in his judgment, required. 

Different as are the circumstances of the Christian world 
in modern times, especially in countries where our religion is 
fully established, it is yet difficult for us to read such passages 



82 



A SERMON PREACHED AT 



as my text, and many others in the writings of the apostles, 
without some application of them to the condition of the 
church in India. We are here, for the most part, small so- 
cieties dispersed through a territory of vast extent : the 
Christian churches already existing in the lifetime of St. Paul 
probably did not occupy so wide a field, as do our English 
churches in this quarter of the globe : there is, indeed, one 
point of difference, which is sufficiently obvious ; the former 
arose and subsisted under every discouragement, and were 
exposed to hostility and persecution ; while we, on the con- 
trary, have nothing to dread from the heathen around us, but 
are ourselves the ruling power. This difference, however, 
though in other points of view, it carries with it important 
considerations, affects not the application of my text ; to you 
at this moment, as it was then to the Philippians, every clause 
of it may be suitably addressed : prosperity and independence 
have their trials, as well as adversity and depression : and I 
may fitly exhort you to " let your conversation be as it be- 
cometh the Gospel of Christ," that so I may hear of your 
" standing fast in one spirit, and with one mind striving 
together for the faith of the Gospel." 

There are, however, circumstances in this Christian settle- 
ment, which impart to it, if things always infinitely important 
admit degrees, a more than ordinary interest. What was 
this island only a few years since, but a blank in the moral 
creation ? Its hills and its forests served only to exhibit to the 
mariner a scene of wild and cheerless grandeur, as he passed 
the inhospitable shore : no associations dear to the mind were 
awakened at the approach ; the charities and the arts of civi- 
lized life were here unknown ; here man, even in his rudest 
state, had as yet no fixed abode. How altered is now the 
scene ! a numerous and increasing population ; — an active 
and beneficent government ; — streets resounding with the 
occupations of industry ; — cultivated fields and thriving 
plantations : — residences bespeaking comfort and opulence ; 
— our arts, our language, and our laws introduced into this 
remote corner of the East ; — these surprising changes invite 
reflection, and cannot be contemplated with indifference. 
But, what it is even more to my purpose to remark, and 
without which all else were unsubstantial, our holy faith is 
here established, to guide those, who know the truth, in the 



PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. 



S3 



way of salvation, and to be a light to lighten the Gentiles 
around, if haply they may be turned from their vanities to 
the Living God : and you have here an edifice fully adequate 
to your Christian population, and in point of decency, and 
even of elegance, worthy of the flourishing and powerful 
body, by whom it was erected ; it is now dedicated unto God ; 
and some of the most solemn ordinances of religion have 
already been administered within its walls. 1 

In a state of things, then, in which the dispensations of 
Providence are so remarkable, I cannot forbear to press upon 
you the counsel, which the blessed apostle offered to his 
Philippians ; and you will best be enabled to comprehend 
and to apply it, by considering it in its separate clauses : his 
exhortation is generally, " Let your conversation be as it 
becometh the Gospel of Christ :" but this he subsequently 
explains to refer more particularly to their 66 standing fast in 
one spirit, and with one mind striving together for the faith of 
the Gospel:" in other words, he makes a conversation worthy 
of the Gospel to shew itself more especially in Christian unity 
and Christian zeal. 

What, however, is the conversation, which becometh the 
Gospel of Christ ? The meaning of the apostle is not given 
in our common translation with the utmost precision : the 
term here employed is wholly different from that, which is 
elsewhere used to signify demeanour or conduct ; as a " holy 
conversation," (2 Pet iii. 11.) "a conversation without co~ 
vetousness," (Heb. xiii. 5.) and other similar expressions : 2 
and the difference is not unimportant : the strict meaning of 
the apostle is, " Be ye such members of the community to 
which ye belong, as your religion requires you to be ;" or, 
" Let your society be actuated by principles worthy of the 
Gospel of Christ :" he is not here addressing the Philippian 
converts as unconnected individuals, but in their collective 
relation to each other : and this exactly agrees with what fol- 
lows : that so he may hear of their " standing fast in one 

1 A confirmation was holden at Prince of Wales's Island on Saturday, 
8th May. 

2 In this epistle iii. 20. we read in our common version " Our conversation is 
in heaven." Beza and others, including Schleusner, would render it " our 
citizenship;" which is certainly right : but the original of this passage differs from 
that of the text, only in using the noun for its cognate verb. 

a 2 



84 



A SERMON PREACHED AT 



spirit, and striving together for the faith of the Gospel." He 
is, therefore, in this place contemplating the Phiiippians as a 
Christian society, who should in all respects act, as becomes 
such a society, especially in the particulars of unity and zeal ; 
and it is in this, the true sense of the text, that I mean to 
apply it on the present occasion. 

I. We shall have formed but a very inadequate notion of 
the influence of religion, if we do not perceive, that a truly 
Christian community will have its appropriate character, its 
own distinctive marks. Societies may, indeed, be formed 
upon any of the principles, which appeal to the reason or the 
passions of man ; and common principles and common laws 
are all which are required to hold them together. But a 
Christian community differs from all others, in respect of the 
principles, by which its members are actuated, and the laws 
to which they yield obedience. To be, then, a community 
such as becomes the Gospel of Christ, you have only to 
inquire, what are the principles, which distinguish our reli- 
gion, and what are those holy and beneficent laws, to which 
it would subdue the human heart ! 

The basis of all Christian society must be faith in Christ : 
the heart must be sensible of its weakness and its wants, and 
of the utter insufficiency of man to his own well-being: the 
conscious need of a Saviour, and a thankful acceptance of 
pardon and peace as offered in the Gospel, are indispensable 
to the genuine Christian character, and of course to qualify 
and dispose men to be members of a really Christian com- 
munity. It is true, indeed, that this faith will not be equally 
strong and active in all, who have been admitted to the 
Christian covenant : and in the visible church of Christ, there 
will be many, who as yet know not the things, which concern 
their peace. Still, faith in the Son of God was the principle 
on which Christians were first brought together : and they in 
whom this principle is weak or wanting, though found within 
the Christian pale, are not of the class of persons, by whom 
Christian communities were originally formed, nor of those, 
by whom the objects of such a community can be fully appre- 
ciated. And in close connection with faith in a Saviour is 
our conviction, that we need the succours of the Holy Spirit : 
both rest alike on the word of God, and of both the necessity 
is made apparent by a consciousness of human corruption. 

4 



PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. 85 

But iii the train of this faith, and of a cordial adoption 
of all that is revealed and enforced in the Scriptures, I 
beseech you to consider what has followed : the same faith 
has united men in the same form of discipline and worship : 
churches were built, in which they might profess their com- 
mon belief, and offer a common homage to the Father of 
Jesus Christ ; and thus were they brought to live together 
under the same spiritual guidance and government, having 
the same Gospel preached to them, profiting by mutual 
edification, affording a mutual comfort and support, and 
cemented together by an intercourse of charity and love. 
It were, indeed, too much to expect that any Christian 
community at the present day, except in circumstances re- 
sembling those of the primitive Christians, should exactly 
correspond with such a model : men are brought together by 
motives in which Christian considerations have little or no 
share : they go to the spot, to which Providence calls them, 
as interest or connection points the way. Still it will be use- 
ful to keep in view the principles, on which Christian societies 
were originally formed, if we would clearly apprehend, what, 
even in the ordinary circumstances of the world, should be 
the character of a community, such as 66 becometh the Gospel 
of Christ." It is certain that the Gospel will not be honoured, 
where its excellence is not illustrated and exemplified, or its 
influence is but partially felt. Is there a Christian commu- 
nity, in which its grand and leading truths are depreciated, 
or but imperfectly understood ? In which moral decency and 
common integrity pass for religion ? In which men confound 
the laws of civil society with the more operative and extensive 
injunctions of the Gospel, and narrow the range of revelation 
to the limits of human reason ? In such habits and sentiments 
wherever they prevail, the faith of the Redeemer is not ho- 
noured, but disparaged : it is not perceived or felt, that the 
mercy, the power, and the justice of God have been wonder- 
fully exerted, and were actually required, in the salvation of 
a fallen race. In like manner, is the Sabbath desecrated, 
and the house of prayer deserted, while business or recreation 
occupies the hours, which should be given to the worship of 
God and to holy meditation ? Are the prevailing habits irre- 
gular and worldly, if not absolutely dissolute and depraved ? 
Are men, though living together in the same place, iincon^ 

g 3 



86 



A SERMON PREACHED AT 



nected with each other by the ties of good-will and charity ? 
In short, is any community in great measure deficient in those 
characters of piety and mutual benevolence, which are inse- 
parable from a sincere profession of the Gospel ? It is plain, 
that in all such instances there is much need of reform. It 
may be said, indeed, that I am here speaking of Christian 
communities, as having for the most part a prevailing cha- 
racter : I conceive this to be the fact ; especially where, as in 
this country, they are separated from the mass of Christians : 
every where a great diversity will be found among indivi- 
duals ; but still there will be a prevailing character either of 
good or evil ; the general aspect of such communities will be 
either that they are Christian in faith, in life, and in deport- 
ment, or the contrary : a few exceptions will not change it. 
The opinions, the habits, and the example of those, who take 
the lead, are no where without effect, and least of all in such 
bodies of men as those, to which I have alluded. What, 
then, is a community, generally speaking, such as " becometh 
the Gospel of Christ ?" To convey to you an adequate idea 
of it would require me to expatiate on the power of religion 
upon the habits, the sentiments, and the tempers of men. In 
such a society the excellence of our faith will be illustrated in 
the lives of its professors : the benevolent observer will find 
with delight, that there the truth is received and honoured 
" as it is in Jesus ;" Eph. iv. 21 : that all holy ordinances are 
revered, while secular duties are not neglected ; more espe- 
cially, that men forsake not the table of their Redeemer ; that 
the Sabbath is really solemnized as a day of holy rest ; that 
they enter the house of God with awe, and that decency and 
order are not violated by listless inattention, or irreverent and 
idle gestures : that they who rule are just and beneficent, 
while the governed yield a cheerful submission; that the re- 
lation between the Pastor and his flock, one of the most en- 
dearing relations in society, is maintained in a parental vigilance 
on the one hand, and in an affectionate respect on the other ; 
that the rich are liberal and the poor thankful ; that institu- 
tions for the relief of misery are well patronized, and what is 
much less common, well superintended ; that a neighbourly 
and friendly intercourse prevails among all of the same class 
and habits of life ; and that men of every condition endeavour 
faithfully to discharge the duties assigned them by Provi- 



PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. 87 

dence, whether these be eminent or humble. I say not that 
such a community is every where to be found ; still any thing 
far short of this becometh not the Gospel of Christ. 

II. But following the example of the apostle, I am to 
speak upon one or two points more particularly: he was 
especially anxious to hear of his Philippians, that they " stood 
fast in one spirit." Powerful as is the influence of the Gospel 
in reforming the dispositions and tempers of men, yet the 
corruption of our nature still remains ; and societies profess- 
edly Christian are not unfrequently at variance in themselves, 
and divided into parties and sects : among the devices of the 
enemy of man, none perhaps has been more effectual or more 
pernicious : selfishness in all its forms, as pride, vanity, false 
honour, a quick sense of wrong, and a love of power or as- 
cendancy, is a principle which is easily roused into action : 
and wherever these operate, Christian communities exhibit a 
spectacle little becoming the Gospel of peace. 

Foremost in the sad catalogue of divisions stand those 
which turn upon questions of religion : some men revolt from 
every thing connected with order and establishment : some, 
who have need to learn, are more ready to teach : some seem 
to derive consequence from being the leaders of a party : and 
others are actually deceived, believing interpretations of Scrip- 
ture, which are unsupported by the letter, or by the general 
tenor of the word of God, to be the true, though hidden 
sense, revealed to them by the Holy Spirit Under this 
head happily, so far as I am informed, I have nothing to 
apprehend for you at present : but if my solicitude for you be 
in any thing predominant, it is that this " little flock" of 
Christ, this infant colony of the Church of England, may 
ever " stand fast in one spirit, and through God's grace resist 
every attempt, should any such be made, to divide it : every 
hope of good to be derived from it hereafter would be de- 
feated by a difference among yourselves. But then, beloved, 
let me caution you against the easy mistake, that you are 
standing fast in one spirit, if in truth you are sunk into indif- 
ference : men are apt to believe that they agree in religion, 
and even take credit to themselves for the agreement, when 
the subject does not sufficiently interest them, to afford any 
cause of dissension. Unity is, indeed, precious in the sight 
of God, and lovely in the eyes of men : but remember, that 

a 4 



88 



A SERMON PREACHED AT 



religious unity supposes that we are really religious : in no 
other case does it deserve the name : and in candour I must 
admit, that better are differences, where all are in earnest, 
than the mere semblance of Christian agreement, where the 
great and vital doctrines of the Gospel are little regarded. 
Happily, such a state of things, however it may incidentally 
arise, is not induced or promoted, far otherwise, by the sys- 
tem of faith and worship adopted in our National Church* 
Our liturgy is a luminous comment on the Gospel ; its devo- 
tions breathe the spirit of the Gospel ; the great and saving 
truths of the Gospel are prominent in every page of it : you 
are in no danger of becoming lukewarm as to the doctrines 
of redemption and grace, while you hold fast to the liturgy ; 
and as little are you exposed to the danger of division, 
while you reverence the primitive form of discipline retained 
in our church. 

But in the collisions of human society, differences will 
sometimes arise, where weighty questions do not come into 
discussion, upon matters of little moment. With regard, 
however, to you, I hardly know what these can be : I have 
good hope that none such at present exist : and my counsel 
for the future will be, that you cultivate generally a spirit of 
forbearance, of concession, of courtesy, of mutual kindness ; 
that you abstain from evil speaking, and from unwarranted 
suspicions ; that you be candid to real faults and failings, and 
remember, that even injuries must be forgiven. I cannot 
contemplate such a society as yours otherwise than as one 
family, among the members of which there is really but little 
collision of interest, and nothing which needs greatly disturb 
the gentle current of brotherly love. 

III. But Christian unity is not the only object, to which 
the apostle particularly turns your attention : he insists upon 
the duty of Christian zeal ; for this virtue cannot be more 
forcibly enjoined than in the expression of " striving together 
for the faith of the Gospel." Christians, indeed, cannot be 
in earnest, they cannot really appreciate the blessings of reli- 
gion, or at any rate cannot be actuated by benevolence, if 
they have no wish to extend those blessings to others : nay 
more, they must be strangers to that great and holy principle, 
the desire of promoting the glory of God. He who knows 
nothing of these things, has abundant cause to ask himself.. 



PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. 



89 



whether he be really influenced by any sentiment of reverence 
to the Almighty, or of love towards man. Mere zeal, how- 
ever, without regulation or restraint, is but a capricious and 
dangerous thing : to be useful, it must act upon system, and 
be tempered with sobriety: the wild sallies of individual 
warmth are often mischievous : we are commanded " to strive 
together:" and I cannot do better than to advert to the points, 
which seem in your instance to be most effectual to the end 
in view. 

You cannot more usefully strive together for the faith of 
the Gospel, than in the open and consistent profession of it : 
this is indispensable, whatever be your other exertions : and 
where is this profession to be made ? Chiefly, though not 
exclusively, within these walls : here you prove to each other, 
that you take an interest in the maintenance of religion ; that 
you are solicitous to uphold its cause ; that you yourselves are 
sensible of the blessings dispensed by it ; that you hear the 
word of God with satisfaction, and join in the devotion of the 
church with comfort ; that you hallow the Christian Sabbath, 
in one of its most sacred obligations ; and that however it 
may be desecrated by others, you yourselves are on the side 
of Christian piety and social order, and are ready to give to 
both the weight of your influence and example. It ought, 
indeed, to excite in you feelings of gratitude to Almighty God, 
that in this remote and secluded spot you have the means 
of thus assembling in all the decency of our national wor- 
ship : how many of our countrymen are denied this privilege? 
for a privilege it will be deemed by those, who have not yet 
learnt to live without God. Great, therefore, would be my 
regret to hear, that after all which has been done, the attend- 
ance at this place was irregular and partial : nor would the 
mischief rest with yourselves : surrounded as you are with 
those, who as yet have no knowledge of Christ, you must 
make your religion visible : and of nothing will they be more 
easily informed, than whether you repair on every seventh 
day to the house of the living God, or whether this sacred 
edifice has been dedicated to him in vain. 

Another object, to which I would direct your Christian 
zeal, though out of this it originated, is the provision, which, 
with the liberal aid of the government, you have made for 
the instruction of youth. In no other way do Christians 



90 



A SERMON PREACHED AT 



more effectually " strive together for the faith of the Gospel," 
than in training the children of the poor in " the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord." From an institution, which is still 
in its infancy, and has been subject to local difficulties, very 
much perhaps was not yet to be expected : some good has 
assuredly been done, and more is in progress : and I know 
not of any permanent impediment to its exhibiting hereafter 
all the improvements, the arrangement, the facility, the pre- 
cision, and the benign moral effect on the minds of the scho- 
lars, which are so conspicuous in the National System, as now 
practised in England. I commend, then, this institution to 
your continued patronage and care : let it be an object of your 
warmest zeal : it is not easy to estimate its eventual import- 
ance : at any rate, great blessings will assuredly be imparted 
to the children themselves : but its influence may be of wider 
extent : this island is an advanced post of civilization to the 
eastward : from this little seminary it may be the purpose of 
the Almighty, in his own good time, to send forth those, who 
shall disseminate a knowledge of his attributes and of the 
way of salvation : we presume not, indeed, to fathom his 
counsels : but we humbly hope for his blessing, while we em- 
ploy the appointed means, leaving to his wisdom the issue. 

There is but one other point of this nature, to which I will 
advert, and on which the little I have to offer, is less in the 
way of exhortation than of acknowledgment. I have thought 
it my duty to suggest the formation at this place, of a District 
Committee of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, 
similar to the committees established in other parts of this 
diocese : and the suggestion, I am bound to add, has been 
received with a cordiality, which while it demands my thanks, 
promises the happiest consequences. I am not, then, asking 
for this establishment a more general support than has already 
been pledged to it : my wish is only to declare its objects, 
and to make it more efficient, as these become generally 
known. By means of this ancient society and its distant 
committees, not only bibles, but prayer books, and approved 
elementary treatises and easy tracts upon all subjects con- 
nected with the doctrines, the ordinances, and the duties of 
our religion, are provided for those who need them. It is 
true, that the field of operation for such an establishment is 
not here as yet very extensive ; yet will it not be without its 



PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. 



91 



use. Every poor Christian will be an object of its regard : if 
any be sick or in prison, he will demand especial attention : 
the school will be supplied with all the books used by the 
National Society : every English soldier, who may be quar- 
tered on the island, and every English sailor, who visits your 
shores, may be benefited by the committee's bounty, and pos- 
sibly may date, as many have done, the commencement of an 
altered course of life from the day when his thoughts were 
thus first turned to the subject of salvation : and the diligent 
exertions of individuals, whether members or not, to ascertain 
where books are wanted, will be in the truest sense, " a 
striving together for the faith of the Gospel." Much, how- 
ever, of what I have remarked of your school, will apply to 
this institution : its position will give it a more than ordinary 
importance : it will be the society's remotest station to the 
eastward : and it may look with the Divine blessing, to further 
openings and a wider sphere : already I am authorized to 
indulge these hopes in the prompt and unreserved support of 
the highest authority at a neighbouring settlement. 1 

It is now time that I take my leave of you, although some 
topics, connected with the present occasion, may remain 
untouched : all Christian graces and virtues, indeed, all which 
belongs to faith, to piety, to order, and to peace, must work 
together in forming a Christian community, which shall do 
honour to the Gospel of Christ. To all these I beseech the 
the Being, " without whom nothing is strong, nothing is 
holy," to incline your hearts ; and that he will " nourish you 
with all goodness, and of his great mercy keep you in the 
same." Vast as is the extent of this diocese, and various as 
are the duties imposed upon me, I must not hope, even if 
life be spared me for some years to come, to be an eye-witness 
of your progress ; but though absent, I shall endeavour to 
" hear of your affairs ;" and I trust, that what I shall hear, 
will afford me satisfaction and comfort ; that so my visit to 
this place may be associated in my mind with something 
even more gratifying than your personal attention and kind- 

1 The Prince of Wales's Island and Fort Marlborough District Committee of 
the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, held its constituent meeting on 
Tuesday, the 18th May. The Governor of Prince of Wales's Island consented 
to become its President, and presented, on behalf of the government, a very 
liberal contribution to its funds : a similar donation was afterwards received from 
the honourable Sir T. S. Raffles, the Lieut, Governor of Fort Marlborough. 



A SERMON, &C. 



ness ; I mean your advancement as a Christian community, 
and the probable extension, through your means, of the 
kingdom of Christ. We will now proceed to the table of 
our Redeemer : to which, as being on the point of leaving 
you, I have called you by a special invitation, there to draw 
still closer these ties of Christian love, and to ask the suc- 
cours of Divine grace, that we may in all things approve 
ourselves unto God our Saviour. 



A 

SERMON, 

PREACHED IN 

ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, BOMBAY, 

BEFORE THE SOCIETY FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE POOR, 
On the IStk March, 1821, 

BEING THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT ; 
BY 

THE RIGHT REVEREND 

THOMAS FANSHAW, 

LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



Resolved. — That the cordial thanks of the Education So- 
ciety be presented to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of 
Calcutta, patron of the institution, for the "very appropriate 
sermon preached by him i?i its behalf on Sunday last ; and that 
his Lordship be requested to allow the same to be piinted* 

H. DAVIES, 

Secretary, 



March 19. 1821. 



A 



SERMON, &c. 



Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to 
destruction. — Matt. vii. 13. 

To the reflecting mind hardly any truths are more deeply 
interesting than such as relate to the general condition of 
human life : in these every feeling bosom seems to participate, 
and every heart, not hardened by sin or sensuality, finds 
something which comes home to itself. The general condi- 
tion must be more or less our own : who can be reminded, 
that the world is full of wretchedness, and not consider that 
he is destined to pass in that world all the days of his mortal 
life ? or who can listen to observations on the shortness and 
uncertainty of our present being, and forget, that he himself 
is standing on the very same precipice, from which daily and 
hourly so many are seen to fall ? The thoughtless and the 
obdurate may, indeed, be proof against all such applications ; 
and there is a sophistry, by which men persuade themselves, 
that they at least are exempt from the common lot : but this 
is not the sane and sober state of the heart and understand- 
ing ; we are formed by nature to feel ; and in the contemplation 
of the scene around us, self love, left to its natural operation, 
will teach us to feel for ourselves : every sigh extorted from 
the wise and good in every age for the condition of humanity, 
does in fact attest our inherent interest in all that relates to 
human life : and our sympathies, as the very term implies, are 
but involuntary acknowledgments, that whatever concerns 
our common nature, touches some chord within ourselves; 
some emotion is awakened within us, when the system is not 
greatly disordered, whenever solemn truths are enounced, 
which apply not simply to individuals, but universally to man. 
It should seem then, that no heart not altogether become 



9(3 



A SERMON. 



callous, can be unmoved with the awful declaration conveyed 
in the text, proceeding as it does from perfect wisdom, and a 
divine insight into all which respects our condition. Ac- 
cording to this oracle, what a world is it, in which we are 
placed ! We are journeying, it seems, either to life or to 
destruction ; to happiness or to eternal perdition : but " strait 
is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and 
few there be that find it ;" whereas " wide is the gate, and 
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there 
be which go in thereat :" through one or other of these gates, 
however, all must pass ; the entrance by the one is difficult, 
while that by the other is accomplished without effort : the 
" way is broad, and the gate is wide," and the number of 
those who enter thereat, is declared to be proportionate. And 
can any of us regard such a representation of human life 
without concern ? It is obvious, and it should seem almost 
impossible not to ask ourselves, whether we are travelling on 
the wide road at our ease, or labouring along the narrow 
path, which alone conducts us to life ? Independently of in- 
quiry, the probability is that we have not found the path of 
life, as this is the lot of few : but inquiry may be expected to 
confirm the apprehension : is there any thing of conflict in 
our religion ? Have we laboured to gain the mastery over 
ourselves ? Have we struggled with our natural corruption ? 
Are we conscious of any actual danger ? And do we habitually 
seek the aid of God in fervent prayer ? If nothing of this has 
yet been done, we may be assured, that we are journeying on 
the broad and easy way, that leadeth unto destruction : and 
be the inferences what they may, we cannot help pronouncing, 
with respect to the great majority of mankind, that such is 
really the fact : there cannot be any thing deserving the name, 
or possessing the efficacy of religion, into which a deep and 
sometimes a painful solicitude for our salvation does not 
enter : and yet how tew are there comparatively, who view 
life in any other light, than as a period for the enjoyment of 
the world, so far as their means extend, or who ever think of 
prosecuting any other way, than that which points to their 
worldly interests, or which invites them by the gaiety of its 
prospects, and appeals to their love of ease. 

But let it not be thought, that this state of things authorises 
any inferences unfavourable to the goodness of the Almighty. 



EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 



97 



It is, indeed, to be inferred from the Scripture, and even 
from what we may observe in the world, that human life, as 
life is very commonly used, will not ultimately turn out to 
have been a blessing : it is, in truth, an awful thing to live ; 
charged as we are with the responsibilities attending this 
state of being, and so little disposed to fulfil them. But this 
is not the original constitution of things ; life can have been 
no other than the gift of a merciful God, intent upon calling 
into being creatures capable of exalted happiness, and on 
enabling them to attain it, unless through their own perverse- 
ness and abuse of their natural freedom. Our Saviour, in- 
deed, tells us, that " narrow is the gate ;" but this is not to 
affirm, that any are excluded : on the contrary, all are com- 
manded to " strive to enter in:" (Luke, xiii. 24.) and when 
it is added, that " many will seek to enter in, and shall not be 
able," it is intended only to warn us against deferring our 
repentance, till the door is closed against us in death. We 
are sure, on the explicit authority of Scripture, that God 
" would have all men to be saved," (1 Tim. ii. 4.), and that 
he is " long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should 
perish, but that all should come to repentance," (2 Pet. iii. 9.) 
These declarations are sufficient to convince us, that the 
spiritual dangers, which are attendant on life, however real 
and extensive they are, must not be sought in the original 
constitution of our being : they can only be ascribed to a su- 
perinduced corruption : and thus they tend to illustrate, as 
do almost all the results of our inquiries into human nature, 
the scriptural doctrine of the fall, and the consequent need of 
a Redeemer : if that doctrine be once admitted, we instantly 
perceive that the goodness of God is not impeached in the 
blindness of men to their real interests, or in any conse- 
quences, which may thereupon ensue. All was good as it 
came from the hands of the Creator ; and life was designed 
to be a blessing, and the source of blessings, although man 
so frequently converts it into a curse. 

Still, however, we must look at our condition, as it ac- 
tually is, whatever be the cause which has brought us into it : 
the way, on which the greater part of the species are journey- 
ing through life, is the broad one that leadeth to destruction : 
we know this fact upon the unerring authority of our Saviour: 
we cannot but acknowledge, that the statement is alarming, 

H 



98 



A SERMON. 



especially as the presumption, which it furnishes, is strongly 
against ourselves : but alarm is in every case unavailing, if it 
does not lead us to consider by what means the danger may 
be avoided: our first and immediate care, no doubt, if we take 
the alarm, will be to look to our own safety ; to review our 
lives, to examine our hearts, and to question ourselves as to 
the foundation of any hope we may entertain, that we our- 
selves are safe : and if, as will too frequently be the case, when 
the scrutiny is impartially conducted, pur security turns out 
to be little else than indifference, and we are not really living 
in the faith and the fear of God, but travelling onward with 
the multitude, with scarcely a thought about our final destin- 
ation, we shall surely trace back our steps, and hasten, how- 
ever late in life, to find the narrow path. — But what will be 
our next concern ? if we are not destitute of pity for our 
brethren and of zeal for the glory of God, we shall direct our 
attention to the state of those who are still pursuing the way 
we have left, or are likely to pursue it hereafter ; and trusting 
that, by the grace of God, we are ourselves in the right path, 
we shall seek to snatch others from destruction, we shall in- 
vite and ..implore them to accompany us in the narrow way, 
which alone leadeth unto life. 

It appears, then, that the awful truth contained in the text 
supplies a motive to the discharge of two, the most mo- 
mentous of our Christian duties ; we are to be solicitous for 
own salvation, and to inquire whither we are going: we are 
next to be careful for the salvation of others, and to guide 
them, if possible, in the right way. Considerations arising 
out of the former of these are, indeed, peculiarly well adapted 
to the present solemn season : but the latter seem to prefer 
even a stronger claim to your attention, when we advert to 
the especial object of this address. 

A. general concern for the salvation of all men, however 
unconnected with us, is the Christian frame of mind : it is, in 
fact, the highest and holiest charity, combined with a zeal for 
the honour of religion and the glory of God. It is hardly pos- 
sible to imagine any man to be in earnest in his Christian 
profession, and at the same time indifferent, or even lukewarm, 
when he sees the multitude around him pressing forward to 
destruction ; ignorant, perhaps, although living in a Christian 
land, of what is required for their salvation; or, more probably, 



EDUCATION OF THE TOOK. 



99 



never laying the subject to heart; but resolving to live un- 
disturbed while they may, and to abide their destiny, as they 
consider it, whatever it may be. In the discharge of the 
pastoral office, or even in the exercise of private friendship, 
or public charity, we must never despair of reclaiming the 
obdurate, even though they be far advanced in life ; for 
nothing is impossible to the grace of God : but it were too 
much to admit, that the task is one in which experience holds 
out encouragement : inveterate habits become a species of 
nature : connexions long established are not easily dissolved : 
and the mind has acquired a rigidity, which renders it inca- 
pable of adapting itself to a new course of action and senti- 
ment, and to those altered views of life and of eternity, which 
the gospel will imperiously require. It is, therefore, to be 
feared, that of the multitude, who have long been travelling 
on the " broad way," few can be persuaded to leave it : the 
duty, indeed, of attempting to persuade them remains in all 
its force ; it is one of those instances, in which despondency is 
forbidden, even though we discern not much ground for hope. 

But very different is the case of the young ; of those, who 
as yet cannot be said to have commenced their journey, either 
in the broad or the narrow way, but have yet to choose : and 
though their choice of the path of life cannot positively be de- 
termined by any exercise of the wisdom or the charity of 
others, it may be influenced to such a degree, as to ensure 
almost a moral certainty, that they will decide aright : we 
cannot force them into the right way, but we can train them 
in such habits and sentiments, and cherish in them such 
dispositions, as will generally lead them to prefer it. Of 
the thousands, in fact, who are pursuing the way of destruc- 
tion, whether in high or in humble life, we may generally pro- 
nounce, that they have not enjoyed the benefits of a truly 
Christian education : of the one class it will probably be found, 
that they were diligently instructed in what are called accom- 
plishments, and of the other that they were utterly neglected 
in their youth : but of both alike, that no care was taken to 
imbue them with Christian knowledge and principles, or to 
rescue them from their natural corruption. 

Education, then, is the instrument committed by Provi- 
dence to the hands of the Christian, who moved by the 
alarming declaration in the text, that the majority of mankind 

h 2 



1 00 



A SERMON, 



are pursuing the road to death, would interfere to save some : 
and if we can conceive a case, in which it is especially in- 
cumbent upon Christians to exert themselves in such a work 
of charity, it is surely in the country which we now inhabit. 
The situation of the children of the poor in England, with 
all the dangers which attend it, (and they are not few,) is a 
state of security compared with that of poor European children 
in India. At home, to say nothing of the stupendous im- 
provements recently introduced by the National Society, there 
have for many years been schools in most of the populous dis- 
tricts, in which the elements of Christian knowledge might 
be acquired ; and employments for those who were indus- 
triously disposed, might always be found in agriculture, in ma- 
nufactures, or in trade : there, too, children bereft of their 
parents have probably other relatives, who, though unable to 
render them effectual aid, can still afford them some protec- 
tion : and the system of parish relief, little as it is adapted to 
the present state of the country, so materially changed in its 
circumstances since that system was first established, is yet 
such as to provide that none shall actually perish. Besides 
all this, there is what may be denominated a Christian irvflu- 
ence, which powerfully operates in a Christian land : the 
charity of individuals supplies, in some measure, any defect in 
the public Institutions. How many children of faithful ser- 
vants have always been sent to school by the benevolence of 
their employers ! and even they who have not been regularly 
trained in Christian principles, are yet within the reach of 
them ; they cannot be thrown into a situation where the name 
of Christ is unknown ; and the division of the whole country 
into parishes, in most of which there is a resident clergyman, 
and where the offices of religion are regularly administered, 
affords, if not a guarantee that all shall be trained in Chris- 
tian knowledge, at least an opportunity of acquiring it, to all 
who from any cause shall be prompted to desire it. 

But how stands the case with respect to India? It ex- 
hibits a gloomy contrast to the state of things, which has now 
been detailed to you, bad as we are accustomed to consider it 
at home. Schools adapted generally to the reception of poor 
Christian children, were, till lately, unknown in the distant 
provinces, and still are few : the employments open to the in- 
dustry of those who are wholly without education, must, of 



EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 



101 



course, in a country where the agriculture, and manufactures, 
and much of the trade are in other hands, be very limited and 
precarious : a child, too, who is here bereft of his parents, has 
probably not a relative or friend in the country : and it often 
happens that of the two supports, which nature has given to 
helpless infancy, the one, which is frequently found in Eng- 
land to be the more efficient, is here nearly useless, or some- 
times even worse than useless, in a Christian view : through 
the influence of native mothers, the daughters, at least, and 
sometimes the sons, of Europeans, have been lost to the faith 
of Christ. There are cases, too, in which the father is ordered 
to Europe, and must leave his children behind him : the 
camp, or the barrack, or the bazar is their only place of re- 
fuge : there have, indeed, been instances of the most generous 
and exemplary humanity exercised by persons, on whom the 
orphan has had no natural claims, and whose means of doing 
good have been exceedingly circumscribed : the ebullitions of 
truly Christian pity will burst forth, whenever the feeling is 
excited : but its operation must be partial and fortuitous, 
where public institutions are wanting, and charity is not 
organized into system. In this country, moreover, the ob- 
jects of charity, of whom we are speaking, are exceedingly 
dispersed : their distresses, unless there be a motive to inquire 
for cases of distress, in the hope of relieving them, are not 
easily brought to light ; the casualties and misfortunes, which 
befal the poor, are scarcely heard of : in a Christian neigh- 
bourhood nothing which deeply affects its meanest member 
is unknown, or altogether without interest ; but the state of 
society is here very different : in its most favourable circum- 
stances, from its fluctuating nature, we hardly attain to an in- 
terchange of sympathies between the different classes, and but 
rarely between persons of the same class. And as to a gene- 
rally pervading Christian influence^ it is not to be expected : 
Christianity is not here sufficiently advanced : it covers too 
small a space : it is not always well established in the minds 
of those who come hither from a Christian country: the pro- 
bability is not very great, that it will afterwards gain an 
ascendancy over them : we have here, speaking with reference 
to the extent over which our countrymen are scattered, but 
few churches, few clergy, and few Christian institutions : and 
Christian associations, strongly as they are felt in some minds, 

H 3 



102 



A SERMON. 



derive, for the most part, but little aid from local circum- 
stances. Paganism is in possession of the millions, who con- 
stitute the people : and it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to 
suppose, that it has not influences of its own, from the oper- 
ation of which even Europeans are not altogether exempt. 

It was in such a state of things, and probably from the con- 
templation of circumstances such as those which have now 
been detailed, that your Education Society was first esta- 
blished, and commenced those labours of love, which appear 
thus far to have had the blessing of Almighty God : the in- 
stitution has, indeed, been munificently supported by the 
Christian community throughout this presidency : and it ap- 
pears, as its merits are more generally understood, to be con- 
tinually gaining strength. It might seem, then, superfluous to 
dwell upon its excellencies : at the same time, I should hardly 
fulfil the object of this day's solemnity, if I contented myself 
with general commendation, and abstained from all notice of 
the specific benefits which, with the continued blessing of 
God, these schools may be expected to produce. 

Chiefly, then, no doubt, and most obviously will benefit 
redound to the individuals who are the objects of your care. 
View them only in their present state, and in connexion with 
the prospects which are opening upon them, and then con- 
trast with it what they probably 'wotdd have been, if aban- 
doned to their natural condition. The mind can hardly 
imagine any thing more wretched : poverty, and ignorance, and 
vice, and habits perhaps little removed from those of the lowest 
and most depraved of the natives, would, in the natural course 
of things, have been their portion : but what is the state in 
which you have actually placed them ? It has nothing in it 
which, in the estimation of the proud and the luxurious, might 
redeem it from contempt : but, in a Christian view, it is all 
which the well-being and even the happiness of man can re- 
quire : food and raiment suited to their condition :—• Christian 
instruction, and that elevation of mind and character, which 
it almost invariably tends to inspire ; — habits of attention and 
industry ; < — the practice of early piety ; — and such of the 
elements of useful knowledge as may fit youth of both sexes 
respectively for subordinate, though useful, stations in life; — 
these are the benefits, which you confer upon all whom you 
take under your protection. — Without presumption we in- 



EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 



103 



dulge a hope, that the seed thus sown will, in very few 
instances, be thrown away : similar institutions, which have 
been sufficiently long established to furnish the result of ex- 
perience, have been blessed with abundant fruits. All ex- 
perience, indeed, tends to prove, that education is the most 
powerful, and at the same time the most manageable, engine 
of good, which has been committed to man. In the fulfil- 
ment of prophecy respecting the coming of Christ's kingdom, 
we may especially apply to the influence of Christian educa- 
tion that saying, that sC the desert shall rejoice and blossom 
as the rose." (Isaiah xxxv. ].) 

But the benefits which such an institution confers, are not 
confined to the individuals for whom they are immediately 
intended : the state will be a gainer in every instance, in 
which your labours of love shall not have been wholly inef- 
fectual. On this point, indeed, I am well aware, that the 
fears of some, and those too, good and enlightened men, will 
not allow them to concur with me without considerable re- 
servation, at least in the circumstances of India : it is, how- 
ever, in those circumstances especially that I would plead the 
cause of education. It is said, indeed, and truly said, that 
knowledge is power : but is it necessarily hostile power ? and, 
further, may we not expect, even if we withhold knowledge, 
that power will still exist; and that, too, decidedly and in- 
veterately hostile to those interests which we are most soli- 
citous to maintain ? To the former of these questions it may 
be answered, that the power conveyed by knowledge is not 
necessarily hostile : mere knowledge, indeed, unaccompanied 
with any principles which shall regulate or restrain it, is a 
tremendous implement of evil ; and how to convey these prin- 
ciples is the problem which perplexes us with regard to the 
education, or, more properly, the instruction, of the natives ; 
for education is a different thing : we can give them know- 
ledge, but we are for the present precluded from giving them 
religion. But this difficulty applies but very partially to the 
present institution : in these schools religion and useful know- 
ledge are blended together : the mischiefs attendant on mere 
knowledge are neutralized : they are more, I trust : know- 
ledge in minds, which have been trained in Christian prin- 
ciples, constitutes a power which will generally be subservient 
to good. But even if we withhold knowledge, will not power 

H 4? 



104 



A SERMON. 



be created without our aid? and what will be its character? 
we know that at this moment the most noxious opinions, as 
they relate to religion, to morals, and to politics, the very 
opinions which threaten to subvert our constitution at home, 
are disseminated through every part of India : and on what 
class of persons are they calculated more immediately to 
operate? Not surely upon educated English gentlemen; nor, 
in the first instance, upon the natives : for they are hardly in 
a state at present to enter into such discussions, though they 
are advancing to it : but primarily and directly upon that very 
class of society, the children of which you are here training 
up in piety, and order, and submission to authority, and in 
grateful attachment to their benefactors : and many of whom, 
unless by such means we take care to have them with us, will, 
in any hour of trial, almost certainly be against us : to shut 
them out from all knowledge, if it were your policy, is not 
within your power : such policy, indeed, could hardly be re- 
conciled to any liberal or humane feeling : but we have not 
the means of adopting it : the children of the class, to which 
I refer, will acquire a knowledge and a power of evil, if we 
train them not in a knowledge of good. Causes are in oper- 
ation, over which we have no other control, and the question 
seems to be, whether, when our bark is launched into the 
ocean, and the tempest begins to blow, we shall endeavour to 
steer the vessel through all dangers, or let it drive ? You are 
adopting the former course : you give knowledge, indeed, 
which is power : it is the force which impels the vessel, and 
without which it were stationary and useless ; but you labour 
to conduct it to the haven where it should be, by placing 
religion at the helm. 

But there is one other view, in which your labours may be 
regarded, and which should be briefly noticed. You do not 
probably consider yourselves as directly advancing the Chris- 
tian cause among the idolaters around you : directly, indeed 
you are not ; but indirectly, I conceive, and largely are you 
contributing to this desirable and blessed end ; and in a way, 
too, to which the most cautious and timid cannot possibly 
object : you are reforming the lower order of Europeans : and 
it cannot be doubted, that the habits of Europeans of the 
lower class, as well as those of their superiors, have had a 
considerable effect in retarding the progress of the Gospel. 



EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 



105 



How, indeed, can we expect, that the heathen will forsake 
their idols, overpowered by the beauty of the Christian system, 
where they see it disfigured, and distorted, and rendered al- 
most disgusting ? With what consistency or common sense can 
we attempt to persuade them to believe in Christ, when pro- 
fessed believers are acting as if they were the most hardened 
of infidels ? Or how shall we gain a hearing for the evidences 
of our faith, while we are strengthening, as much as we can, 
the prejudices against its truth ? In the early ages, it was not 
by preaching alone, even after the cessation of the miraculous 
powers, that paganism was induced to take up the cross of 
Christ. It was by observing the surprising effects produced 
by the Gospel in the hearts and lives, not merely of eminent 
saints and preachers, but of the lowest among those, who had 
embraced it : the Christians had a distinguishing character : 
they believed in Christ, and they bore in their habits the 
impress of their faith : they were more honest, more tem- 
perate, more peaceable, than the pagans, with whom they 
were liable to be compared : men were not, indeed, thus to 
be immediately converted : but the tide of prejudice was 
turned, and they were ready to listen at least to the advocates 
of the Gospel, and to listen favourably : the inference was 
natural and just, that what was thus excellent in its effects 
might probably be true : we shall have cause to bless God, if 
the day arrive, when the same presumption shall operate in 
favour of the Gospel in India : we may then presume to 
hope, that " the redemption of this people draweth nigh." 

But while I touch upon these collateral topics, let me not 
depress in your estimation the importance of that to which I 
first adverted, and which alone is your immediate concern ; it 
is the saving of the souls of poor children for their own sakes, 
and for the sake of Christ. Their whole case is contained in 
the declaration of my text : they are cast into a world, where 
wide is the gate that leadeth to destruction ; but under your 
parental guidance and love, they are directed to seek the narrow 
path ; and by God's blessing they shall find it. But while 
you exult in these happy expectations, and thank the God of 
all mercies for having used you as his humble instruments, 
let me remind all who hear me, that delightful as is the 
spectacle now before us, a very different one may be witnessed 
in the world. What are these children, numerous as they 



106 



A SERMON. 



are, to the hundreds, who are still without ? Before them the 
broad way and the wide gate are open still; and most of 
them will enter thereat, if there be none to divert them from 
their course. Labour, therefore, to increase the resources of 
this Christian establishment. Give of your abundance, if 
God hath blessed you ; or withhold not of the little which he 
may have committed to your stewardship. Some trifling 
gratification, not essential to your happiness, and of which not 
a vestige would on the morrow perhaps remain, is the utmost 
sacrifice to be made in the amplest contribution. You are 
now called upon to make some sacrifice, whatever it may be, 
as an " offering for a sweet-smelling savour" unto Christ your 
Redeemer, who will graciously accept it, and place it among 
your " treasure in Heaven." 



THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD MADE 
KNOWN BY THE CHURCH : 



A 

SERMON, 

PREACHED AT 

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CALCUTTA, 

On the 3d Bay of December, 1820, 

BEING THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. 

By THOMAS FANSHAW, 

BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD MADE 
KNOWN BY THE CHURCH: 



A SERMON, &c. 



To the intent, that now unto the principalities a?id powers in 
heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold 
wisdom of God. — Eph. iii. 10. 

Although the passage recited is properly the subject of what 
I have now to offer, the two verses preceding it must be 
placed before you to render it sufficiently intelligible. What 
was it, which was done with the intent declared in the text ? 
" Unto me," says the Apostle, " who am less than the least 
of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among 
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make 
all men see, what is the fellowship of the mystery which from 
the beginning of the world had been hid in God, who created 
all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent, that now unto the 
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known" 
(or, more correctly, made known) " by the church the mani- 
fold wisdom of God." The event, therefore, brought about 
with the intent signified in the text, was the calling of the 
blessed apostle to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable 
riches of Christ, and to proclaim the eternal purpose of God 
to abolish in due time all national distinctions, extending 
to all the kindreds of the earth a knowledge of Salvation 
through the same Redeemer. 

In the declaration, then, of the end proposed in the grace 
thus given to St. Paul, and we may add, in the divine ap- 
pointment of the Christian ministry, three topics offer them- 
selves to our reflexion. 

1. What is the manifold wisdom of God ? 

2. Why should it be proclaimed to the Gentiles? and, 



no 



THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 



3. What are the means, by which the work may and must 
be carried on, till all the kingdoms of this world are become 
" the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ?" (Rev. ii. 
15.) A discussion, such as this, will easily connect itself 
with the solemn season of advent ; while it will afford me the 
means of adverting to a kindred and local topic, to which, 
when viewed in the same relation, some interest will, I trust, 
attach. 

1 . In the first place, I am to speak to you of " the manifold 
wisdom of God :" the very phrase, however, seems to over- 
whelm us by the variety and weight of the topics, which it 
immediately suggests. Manifold, indeed, is that wisdom ; 
infinite in its conceptions and modes of operation, even as ap- 
prehended by the faculties of man : and what then must it ap- 
pear to sublimer and heavenly intelligences, although even 
they, as the text plainly intimates, are as yet but scholars and 
novices in the knowledge of the divine dispensations. Even 
man, however, with all his feebleness of faculty and corruption 
of heart and attachment to the things of the world, when he 
can calmly bring himself to reflect upon the themes of cre- 
ation, and Providence, and grace, discerns enough to fill him 
with sentiments of the deepest adoration and awe. 

In creation, the field which displays the divine wisdom, is 
absolutely immeasurable : into whatever district our curiosity 
or piety leads us, there we discover the wisdom of the Al- 
mighty, whether the object of research be a plant or an insect, 
or the system, by which worlds revolve ; w T h ether it be the 
instinct of animals, or the reason of man ; whether it be the 
structure of the human frame, or those faculties and powers, 
which constitute the activity inherent in mind. And then 
what a countless multitude of subjects are either too great or 
too small to be grasped by our feeble vision ! What regions 
lie beyond our reach, of which we but dimly descry the con- 
fines ! There is no boundary to what we see : we discern 
not the teimination of any thing : there is always something 
beyond, seen more and more indistinctly, till it is lost in dis- 
tance : the whole circle of human knowledge in comparison 
with all the subjects of knowledge, with all which might be 
known by an infinite intelligence, and therefore is known to 
God, is probably but as a single leaf torn from the middle of 
some vast volume, filled indeed with references or allusions 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 



Ill 



to what has preceded, or with faint anticipations of what is to 
follow, and therefore but imperfectly understood, yet leading 
the mind to lofty speculations, and admiration of its Author : 
we understand just enough to be instigated to thought and 
inquiry, and to be convinced, from the little we comprehend, 
that w T isdom must have dictated the whole. For how many 
benevolent ends do we discover in all the realms of nature, 
and in every work of God ? What mighty effects are ac- 
complished by means the most simple, and apparently the 
most inadequate ? What provision is made to meet what in 
human mechanism we should consider as insuperable diffi- 
culties, but which, in the divine workmanship, serve only to 
evince the operation of one pervading mind ? and what ad- 
justment in a system inconceivably complicated, so that there 
is no collision or interference, where all at the first superficial 
glance would seem to be confusion ? Our limits will not per- 
mit us to illustrate these general remarks by individual exam- 
ples : but they will be verified by every inquiry into the works 
of the Creator. 

But what shall we say of Providence ? The evidence 
under this head would probably be more striking, than under 
that of creation, if we were equally capable of deducing it : 
w hich, however, seems not to be the case. In creation much 
may be inferred from the contemplation of the single parts, 
and those the most obvious and familiar to our apprehension* 
A blade of grass or an ear of corn, though, indeed, we detect not 
all its contrivances, is yet sufficiently complete for the purpose, 
and exhibits indubitable and connected proofs of profound de- 
sign ; but in the system of Providence proofs are not easily 
drawn from parts : we are required to contemplate and com- 
prehend the whole. We cannot sever a link from the midst 
of a chain, but the chain is broken. In Providence we have 
to consider a long series of causes and effects, of purposes 
and results, which in that view of the subject, exist not but in 
connexion. The results, indeed, are apparent, but not so 
the process : we cannot always clearly connect the first cause 
with the final effect : the intermediate steps elude our investi- 
gation. Let it not, however, be thought that this difficulty 
at all invalidates the doctrine of Providence, as evincing 
the wisdom of God. It is as if we beheld some vast river 
discharging its waters into the ocean, but were not permitted 
to trace it upwards to its source : we catch, indeed, glimpses 



THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 



of it at distant intervals ; but mountains and forests frequently 
intervene. Still we are sure, that it has its source somewhere, 
however distant or inaccesible. And so it is with all the 
good we enjoy in the world, with all the provision made 
for our wants, with all our deliverances from danger ; in short, 
with all that is incident to men or to nations : events are 
brought about, good is accomplished, and evil averted, not 
only through means quite inadequate to the end, as we esti- 
mate these things, but frequently in opposition to natural 
causes, of which we see the full force and efficacy, and are 
quite at a loss to understand how they have been defeated. 
And what is the inference ? It is, that what is not of man is 
of God : it is, that an overruling power directs all things ; 
influencing the wills of those, who serve him, to what is ulti- 
mately good; and in those, who by corruption are biassed to 
evil, averting the consequences, if not to themselves, at least 
to others, or even converting them to his purposes. 

Here, however, we pass to what our text chiefly contem- 
plates, the manifold wisdom of God in the dispensation of 
Grace and in the scheme of redemption. This wisdom, in- 
deed, is not so easily discerned by minds, in which religion 
has made but little progress, as that which beams forth in the 
w T orks of creation, or as that of which the proofs are more 
slowly deduced from God's moral government of the world. 
To be in any degree appreciated, it requires a prepara- 
tion of the mind and heart ; it requires us to divest ourselves 
of pride and prejudice, and to be deeply sensible of our con- 
dition. The mere philosopher is very capable of discerning 
facts, which establish the doctrine of final causes : or the meta- 
physician may be driven by the necessities of his argument to 
acknowledge a pervading and over-ruling mind : but to gain 
even a glimpse of what the apostle had called in the context, 
a the unsearchable riches of Christ," you must be in principle, 
in heart, and in sentiment already Christian : the first step 
in your progress must be humility ; humility, however, not as 
prompted by unreasonable despair, but as founded in eternal 
truth. Look, then, at the natural condition of the species ; 
of man without religion, meaning faith in a Saviour and Re- 
deemer : what is his confidence, or even his hope ? We are 
evidently in the situation of those^ who have violated a law 
fortified by penal sanctions, without any power of satisfying 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 



113 



the penalty. Sceptics, in the pride of their hearts, may cavil 
at this comparison ; but they have never adduced any evi- 
dence to shew, that it is not strictly applicable. If they will 
only admit the being of a perfectly just and holy God, all 
substantial consequences, which the Christian claims, will in- 
evitably follow : it will follow, that the wisdom and mercy of 
God were in some way to be exerted for the restoration of 
violated order and the indemnity of man. — But even reason 
should revolt at the very groundwork of the deistical scheme, 
if scheme it can be called, which has no consistent application. 
In what a light does deism, if closely examined, place the 
deity ? It leaves him in possession of perfect attributes, 
which are, however, but imperfectly exercised : it recognises 
his sovereignty, but would suspend his functions : it admits 
and even insists upon his mercy, but in a way which forbids 
us any longer to consider him as infinitely just, and which 
affords us no means of asserting his holiness. It represents 
him as the author of a law, the sanctions of which can 
never be abrogated, and the dignity of which can never 
be maintained. It acknowledges him to be the eternal source 
of purity and truth, although if the language may be endured, 
he acquiesces in falsehood and connives at iniquity. These 
results are inevitable, if Christ hath not "appeared to put 
away sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Heb. ix. 26.) 

It is also allowable to ask of those, who profess to admit 
no test but reason, whether life is rational without religion ? 
rational to the receiver, and rational in the giver ? capable of 
being directed to such ends, as reason pronounces to be sufficient 
for a creature so endowed, or consistent with any adequate 
design of an all- wise creator ? In relation to the former of 
these questions, what is this state of ours, uninformed by the 
views and hopes of the gospel, but a scene of vanity ? in 
which the enterprises of the brave, and the levities of the 
trifling, the studies of the learned, and the schemes of the 
ambitious, are all reduced to the same level of insignificance ? 
They are but different modes of pastime, not equally, indeed, 
respected in the w r orld, but equally leading to nothing : and 
yet the mere pride of reason, one would imagine, if not 
the energies of immortal spirits, would teach men to look 
for something at least beyond the grave. — But still more 
shall we be at a loss to reconcile this gift of life with the attri- 

i 



114 THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 



butes of God, if it be not intended, as the gospel represents 
it, to be a period of discipline in the school of Christ. Why 
else have we in our fallen state, these powers of blessing 
and adoring the Almighty, of comprehending truths which 
have no relation to our present existence, of being warmed 
by piety, of delighting in holiness, and of aspiring to happi- 
ness far beyond what the world can give, if the only sys- 
tem, by which these feelings are cherished and matured, be 
not of God ? 

It may be right, however, to state more distinctly in what 
particulars especially our reason discerns the wisdom of God 
in the scheme of human redemption : and to judge of it ade- 
quately we should keep in view, that the end proposed was to 
repair the mischiefs occasioned by the fall. Now certainly 
we perceive, though our reason could never have suggested 
the expedient, that the assumption of our nature by the god- 
head (great as is the reverence with which we should discuss 
such subjects) does really meet the difficulty. It seems to 
present a method of atonement, which is at once sufficient to 
satisfy the offended majesty of heaven, or, more correctly 
speaking, to maintain the sanctions of the divine law, while 
the benefits of such atonement all redound upon offending 
man : it is at once, from its infinite dignity, adequate in the sight 
of God, while, being offered in our fallen nature, it extends its 
efficacy to every son of Adam. Christ died, indeed, but once : 
but for every individual expiation is made, through the oper- 
ation of " the righteousness which is of faith." (Rom, 
ix. 30.) It seems, therefore, that even our reason should 
assent to that doctrine of our creed, " the taking of the man- 
hood into God." In philosophy we readily admit as true, 
whatever serves to solve a difficulty not otherwise to be ex- 
plained; and the discovery of such solutions is its highes 
triumph. Discovery is here out of the question : but shall 
reason presume to reject a doctrine, which reconciles, wha 
else were at variance, the justice with the mercy of God ; at- 
tributes which we are sure must co-exist, merely because it is 
revealed? Unless we are prepared to deny altogether the 
weakness and the pride of man, it must be conceded, that i 
this instance they render him irrational, if indeed his reason is 
in questions of religion, to be submitted to the same test as 
in matters of science, or in the ordinary conduct of life. 

But there lurks in some men a degree of prejudice against 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 115 

what they denominate speculative truths, and a proportionate 
disposition to treat them as of little importance : such will 
not very readily discern in the scheme of our redemption any 
proofs of the wisdom of God. There cannot, however, be a 
more unjust or more dangerous distinction, than that which 
is thus attempted. All the speculative truths of religion, 
which are revealed in Scripture, (and no others deserve any 
serious regard) are, in their inferences and consequences and 
relations, highly practical : they are in truth the very basis of 
all practice ; and none is more extensively so, than the doc- 
trine of our redemption through Christ. What motives to 
holiness can our reason supply, which are not weak and un- 
availing, compared with the awful consideration of the sacri- 
fice which infinite justice has required for sin, or with that 
adoration and love of God, which arise from the contempla- 
tion of his mercy ? Or if discoveries were to be made, in- 
tended to affect mankind in their habits and views and sen- 
timents, so as to operate upon the whole course of life and 
action, through what channel could they have been conveyed 
with the same effect, as when they are promulged by him, 
to whom all heavenly subjects w T ere familiar, and who had 
glory with the Father, before the foundation of the world. 
(John, xvii. 5.) If holiness was to be taught by example, 
what character has the mind of man conceived, approaching 
to the purity and simplicity of Christ ? If pride was to be 
abased, what condescension could the world exhibit, resem- 
bling that of the Son of God ? If despondency was to be 
raised and comforted, to what asylum could it flee, com- 
parable with an all-powerful Saviour ? Or if authority were 
requisite, as assuredly it was, to give effect to the lessons of 
the teacher, where could it be found in the same degree, as 
in him, whose mission was confirmed by miracles, and whose 
future advent had been announced from the moment of man's 
first disobedience ? Nor are these considerations to be treated, 
as merely authorizing an expectation of practical conse- 
quences, which are no where actually exemplified : the case 
is remarkably otherwise : we do find, through all the walks of 
human life, and in every region of the earth, that faith in a 
Divine Redeemer is the groundwork of the severest morality: 
and that no virtue, judged even as the world judges of virtue, 
from its benign effects on social happiness, can in point of 

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116 



THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 



efficacy or extent be compared with the graces of the Chris- 
tian. It may truly be affirmed, that the advent of Christ has 
in its consequences ennobled our nature ; and where happily 
men are living under the influence of the Holy Spirit, has 
visibly restored it to the semblance of something divine : the 
ideal standard of human excellence, formed before our Sa- 
viour's appearance, falls very far short of what is attainable, 
and is really attained, in the school of Christ. 

These reflections, capable however of being pursued through 
a thousand channels, may prepare us to form some imperfect 
estimate of the wisdom of God in the work of our redemption. 
Mysteries, it is true, envelope the doctrine theoretically con- 
sidered : but in a practical view nothing can be more intelli- 
gible. Our nature, in its inconsistencies and contradictions, 
in its weaknesses and in its strength, in its elevation and de- 
pression, conspires with Scripture to bear witness to our 
primeval fall , and the wisdom of God has been exerted in a 
scheme for our restoration through Jesus Christ ; a scheme, 
in which mercy is the moving principle, — in which holiness 
is vindicated, — in which justice is satisfied, — in which our 
weakness is uph olden by divine support, — in which holy 
desires are instilled into the heart, — in which sorrow is com- 
forted, — in which repentance is efficacious, — in which sin is 
pardoned, — in which God is reconciled, — in which the 
world is overcome, and in our last hour Death is deprived 
of his triumph. It is to such a scheme more especially, that 
the apostle refers, when he speaks of the " manifold wisdom 
of God :" and its complicated characters of power and wisdom 
we are able to a certain extent to appreciate, even with our 
faint perception of things divine. In no speculation merely 
human have such difficulties ever been proposed for solution ; 
still less can it be said that they have, been solved upon prin- 
ciples at once so coherent, and at the same time so sublime 
in their objects, so simple in their operation, and so effectual 
in their result. The greatness of the Deity and the misery 
of man had been the theme of sages from the earliest times : 
but who had ever suggested, as among things possible, a 
theory, by which, while God should be vindicated, man 
should be saved ? Consider these points, as they deserve to 
be considered, and you will probably conclude, that the 
method of redemption, as revealed in the Bible, is one 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 



117 



among the various and independent proofs, that that book 
was inspired of God. 

II. But it is time that I proceed to the second question 
suggested in the text, why should the manifold wisdom of 
God be proclaimed to the heathen ? The inquiry is at any 
rate important to those, whom Providence has called to so- 
journ in a heathen land. You will not, however, expect that 
I should be able, within the narrow limits prescribed, to enter 
into all the considerations to which such a question might 
lead us ; as the correction of morals, — the diffusion of arts 
and knowledge, — the abolition of cruel superstitions, — and 
the improvement of the general aspect of society under the 
humanizing influence of Christianity. I must confine myself 
to the topic employed by St. Paul, when he urges the preach- 
ing of the Gospel, in order that " the manifold wisdom of 
God" might thus be made known " to the principalities and 
powers in heavenly places." You can hardly require to be 
reminded, that this is an appellation of those superior intelli- 
gences, the different orders of Angels and Spirits, which sur- 
round the throne of God. It may seem, however, that this 
motive is too abstracted to be generally operative : it might 
even have been thought, that the holy Angels would not 
need to be instructed on such a subject, if the contrary were 
not expressly declared : but there are depths in the dispensa- 
tion of grace, which, as St. Peter tells us, " even the Angels 
desire to look into:" (1 Pet. i. 12.) the whole extent of it is 
not seen at once even by celestial Spirits. But what an idea 
does this convey to us of the scheme of our redemption ! 
With what awe should we contemplate, it ! How should we 
adore the wisdom, which conceived it from the beginning of 
the world ! And how should we tremble, if we are conscious 
of neglecting so great salvation, or " of crucifying to ourselves 
the Son of God afresh !" (Heb. vi. 6.) The inference, how- 
ever, is certain, that in the progress of divine truth and the 
triumphs of the Gospel, even the holy Angels themselves 
gain a clearer insight into the will and the purposes of the 
Almighty : still it may be thought that this consideration is 
not such as to operate generally, as an inducement to the 
diffusion of Christianity. They who feel this objection, it 
may be suspected, are not really impressed with that most 
efficient of all motives, a zeal for the glory of God. The 

i 3 



118 



THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 



edification of the heavenly Spirits may not, indeed, imme- 
diately present itself to our minds : the idea is not sufficiently 
familiar to us : our intercourse is with God or with men : but 
the motive assigned, being taken thus high, comprises all 
lower degrees of it : that men may glorify God when they see 
our good works, is a consideration perfectly level to our views 
of duty : and this consideration is not weakened, but rather 
strengthened, when we recollect, that even the Angels them- 
selves give glory unto God, when they behold the advance- 
ment of his purposes through the piety of their humbler fellow- 
servants. 

Consider, then, what is the notion of a zeal for the glory 
of God. It is founded in a deep feeling and a practical re- 
cognition of the Divine perfections, and in a desire that all 
men should know them, as we ourselves do. We are con- 
vinced that the law of the Almighty is holy, and wise, and 
good : w 7 e are firmly persuaded, that happiness is to be found 
only in obedience to it : we are grateful for that portion of 
comfort and support, which we ourselves have derived even 
from a very imperfect compliance with the will of God : in 
love to our brethren and in pity to the ignorant, we wish 
that they could be persuaded to make an experiment of a 
religious life : we are sure, that to honour and to love God 
is the only true felicity ; and we believe, that the more deeply 
the name and the greatness of the Almighty are revered, the 
more completely will men fulfil the ends of their being. But 
even though the world should be deaf to our arguments, or 
scorn our notions, we ourselves, under the influence of these 
convictions, shall take care to give no occasion to the enemies 
of religion to blaspheme ; on the contrary we shall endeavour 
so to regulate our conduct, that even they who deride our 
scruples, as they will call them, or pity our weakness, shall 
reluctantly admit, that religion is the parent even of the 
virtues, which the world respects, although it refuses to lower 
its standard to the levity or laxity of the age. 

A zeal, then, for the glory of God, if its lineaments have 
now been correctly portrayed, will be forcibly directed to 
the state of those nations, in which the Gospel is not merely 
undervalued, but utterly unknown. Where, for instance, 
shall its energies be excited, if they are dormant in the land, 
which we now inhabit ? In what other region of the known 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 



119 



world is the glory of God more effectually obscured, and 
His truth, to allude to the Apostle's saying, more palpably 
" turned into a lie?" (Rom. i. 25.) The case of ruder 
nations furnishes no answer to this question : refinement, 
when corrupted, may be worse than barbarism ; and system 
has a power of evil beyond simplicity. Where else too, 
we may ask, do we find more evident vestiges of that 
fall from primeval uprightness, which the Gospel was de- 
signed to repair ? From the dislocated strata and confused 
position of heterogeneous substances in the bowels of the 
earth, the geologist attests the breaking up of the vast deep 
in times remote, if he yield not implicit faith to the Scrip- 
tures : and here, in like manner, does the Christian trace 
indubitable evidence of that wreck and ruin of the moral 
world, which the same Scriptures record : the best qualities 
or tendencies of our nature and their opposite defects are 
found in immediate contact : the fear without the knowledge 
of God ; — courtesy without brotherly love ; — profuseness 
without public spirit; — lowliness without humility; — a con- 
sciousness of sin without the want of a Saviour; — fortitude 
without feeling or resignation; — and a contempt of death 
without a thought of immortality; — these are among the 
inconsistencies and perversions of original goodness, which 
every day's observation may exhibit to our notice : and who 
can contemplate these appearances, and not lament them? 
or who, that laments them, can be backward to employ the 
remedy? I mean not, of course, in any way but that of 
affectionate and Christian solicitude, and by teaching and 
" persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God." 
(Acts, xix. 8.) 

There have been, however, and even yet perhaps they 
are not extinct, certain prejudices against all endeavours 
to disseminate Christianity in this country. With those 
which are purely political I have no other concern than to 
remark, that all policy is, to say the least of it, very question- 
able, when it is manifesly opposed to the purposes of Him, 
" who ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whom- 
soever He will." (Dan. iv. 17.) No policy, in fact, in a case 
like the present, can be openly avowed, which does not 
profess to keep in view the real interests and permanent 
happiness of the governed : and thus the question will be 

i 4 



120 



THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 



reduced to the very simple one, whether the temporal and 
eternal good, one or both of them, of the nations around us, 
would not be promoted by a gradual development to their 
minds and hearts, of the truths of the Gospel ? I say, 
gradual^ for he who should attempt or expect more than 
this, would in the attempt do mischief and in the expectation 
evince little knowledge of the actual state of things. 

With respect to the question of temporal advantage, it is 
difficult to reply to objections, which assume no fixed or 
tangible form : we hear it, indeed, sometimes hinted, that 
these people are already in a condition, which perhaps may 
be deteriorated, but cannot easily be improved. If, however, 
the prevalence of liberal knowledge, habits of industry, 
mutual confidence in the transactions of life, a respect for 
the basis of all moral integrity, I mean truth, the absence of 
those social distinctions, which serve only to depress the 
great mass of the species, the elevation of the female part of 
society to their proper dignity and influence, and the pos- 
session of that liberty, wherewith Christ has made men free, 
(Gal. v. 1.) and which is really the principle, however over- 
looked, of all national greatness and prosperity in modern 
times, — if these several particulars enter largely into the 
theory of the well-being of any people, it were surely too 
much to abandon all established maxims and the dictates of 
our common feelings, in mere courtesy to supposed interests 
or secret predilections. For the want of such national bles- 
sings, as those which are here enumerated, no equivalent can 
be pleaded, and no compensation made. 

But we cannot, as Christians, consent to rest the whole 
argument upon the prospect of temporal advantages. The 
Advent of Christ is no Advent to the people around us : we 
presume not indeed to say, that in their present unconverted 
state they derive no benefit whatever from the incarnation 
and death of a Saviour : it should rather appear from the 
Scriptures that the contrary is the truth, in a question of 
much difficulty and perplexity. We read that the Almighty 
" is the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe." 
(1 Tim. iv. 10.) The discussion of such a subject might 
alone occupy a volume : but it requires no discussion to 
establish, even admitting the salvability of the heathen, that 
great spiritual advantages do attend, and are confined to, an 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 



121 



actual belief in Christ: the passage last cited recognises the 
fact: why else do we read, that he who would have all men to be 
saved, would have them also " come to a knowledge of the 
truth." (1 Tim. ii. 4.) Why else is Christ called the Way, 
as well as the Truth and the Life? (John xiv. 6.) Why else, 
in short, to pass over a multitude of passages bearing upon 
this subject, should our Saviour have commanded his Dis- 
ciples to " preach the Gospel to every creature" ? (Mark 
xvi. 15.) He says of himself that he " came into the world 
that He might bear witness to the truth :" (John xviii. 37.) 
but He is no witness of it to them, who know Him not, 
nor can they believe in His name. It is, in short, the general 
tenor of the New Testament, illustrated and confirmed in the 
lives and sufferings of the Saints and Martyrs, who went 
forth under the influence of the Holy Spirit, that great, if 
not fatal, disadvantage attends on those, who know not the 
" way of Salvation ;" and it may be, though our limits will 
not permit us to go into the proofs of this opinion, that they 
are rarely seen to live in that " Spirit of Faith" (2 Cor. iv. 13.) 
which God possibly, for the sake of Christ, may be pleased 
to accept; and that the highest happiness to which they 
can attain hereafter is inconsiderable, compared with that 
which is reserved for the enlightened and humble believers 
in Christ. Any apparent inequality in such a course of pro- 
ceeding may be vindicated by obvious analogies, and by a 
becoming attention to the principle, that all which we receive 
in things temporal or spiritual is freely of the Grace of God. 

There is one other point connected with this head, which 
must not be entirely overlooked : it is the universality pro- 
fessedly intended and promised to the faith of Christ ; and of 
course the duty, which thus is imposed upon all Christians, 
in their proper spheres of action, to promote and extend it. 
But this is not all ; men may not perceive that this principle 
of universality is among the characters, which distinguish 
Christianity as a revelation of divine truth. It is possible, 
indeed, and in one instance it is exemplified, that the founder 
of a false religion may stimulate his followers to universal 
conquest under the pretence of exterminating infidelity, and 
doing honour to God. Such a spirit, however, is not easily 
confounded with the mild and beneficent genius of Chris- 
tianity : its victories are all bloodless, and its trophies are 



l c 22 THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 



the prevalence of the love of God and man, and of a reason- 
able and acceptable worship, in regions where barbarism or 
superstition till then had reigned. We should recollect, 
however, that though an impostor might, in the mere spirit 
of carnality and ambition, seek the propagation of his tenets, 
an inherent impossibility in any mode of religion, that it 
should become universal, is a certain proof, where that 
religion is not a mere " shadow of things to come, while the 
body is of Christ," (Col. ii. 17-) that it cannot be from 
Heaven. If God is one, so also must be his final purpose 
respecting man : if the Saviour be but one, so also must be 
the method of salvation : if the Holy Spirit be but one, He 
can never have inspired or suggested all the jarring systems 
which divide mankind. And though this argument does 
not of itself enable us to decide which of them is the true 
one, it effectually invalidates the claims of those, which 
confessedly are partial and incapable of extension. In other 
words, the system of faith, which prevails in this country, 
even if it had any shadow of evidence in its behalf, would be 
completely disproved by its wanting the principle of dissemin- 
ation and diffusion : and its defence is virtually abandoned, 
when its adherents are driven to profess, that the Almighty 
is delighted with variety in the systems of human belief, and 
that all, therefore, may be acceptable ; as if truth and sal- 
vation and the will of God were but modes and fashions to 
be adapted to the convenience or caprice of the believer. 
Nor is the subterfuge more availing, when to avoid this 
difficulty the plea is urged, that the sacred books of all 
nations do really and in spirit teach the same thing : if it be 
urged in ignorance, it may excite our pity ; but certainly it 
is not true, that any book, except the Bible, teaches that which 
is the object and the essence of the Bible, and to which all 
else is collateral, salvation through the Son of God. It is a 
triumphant consideration, therefore, in all such questions, 
that Christianity not only professes to be designed for uni- 
versal acceptance, but moreover is fitted, without any accom- 
modation or sacrifice of its purity, to be the religion of the 
civilised world : that it humanises where it does not find 
humanity ; and that allowing for and retaining a difference 
of usages in things indifferent, it is adapted to combine in 
one scheme of faith and hope the whole family of man. As 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 



123 



St. Paul expresses it, " there is neither Greek nor Jew, 
circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond 
nor free : but Christ is all and in all." (Col. iii. 11.) 

3. But lastly I am to remind you of the appointed means, 
by which the glory of God is to be advanced upon earth, 
and indeed, as we have seen, in Heaven. St. Paul says 
expressly that the manifold wisdom of God, should be made 
" known by the Church." This declaration surely conveys 
the idea of a high privilege, that of being the authorised 
channel of diffusing through the world a knowledge of the 
divine greatness in Creation and in Providence, but especially 
in Redemption to be extended to the whole of the human 
race : and it is in somewhat of a kindred spirit, that the 
church is elsewhere denominated the " pillar and ground 
of the Truth." (1 Tim. iii. 15.) Lofty as these expressions 
may appear, there is nothing in them figurative or hyper- 
bolical : they correspond with the actual glories of the church, 
as they have been exhibited from its first foundation down 
to the present hour. What is the difference between the 
state of the world at present, and as it existed two thousand 
years ago ? It is the difference which has been made by the 
preaching of the Gospel. If any doubt this assertion, let 
him turn his eyes to the condition of those regions, on which 
the Sun of Righteousness has not yet arisen. Some profess 
to expect all improvement from a natural expansion of the 
human powers : but is it not constantly affirmed and believed, 
that the state of this country is precisely such, as it was in 
the days of Alexander ? unless, indeed, there be reason to 
suspect that it is somewhat deteriorated. On the other 
hand, do we not know, that the highest degrees of knowledge 
and holiness, of civil liberty and of social happiness, do 
actually exist, where at that period, a state of things pre- 
vailed, as bad perhaps in all respects as any which we now 
contemplate? To reclaim our ancestors from their idolatrous 
and cruel superstitions was apparently as difficult, and cer- 
tainly as benign a task, as any which the church would now 
accomplish. And thus it is throughout the world : nations 
become enlightened and happy precisely in proportion to 
their Christian knowledge, and to the purity in which they 
have received and maintained the faith of Christ : or in the 



124< THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 

words of my text, in proportion as the church has made 
known to them the manifold wisdom of God. 

Consider, however, in what sense St. Paul in speaking of 
the church, may be supposed to apply the term ; it can be 
only in the apostolical acceptation : we find, that even in 
those early times the name was abused ; there were divisions 
and heresies, all claiming to be of the church: but the 
dividers were to be marked, (Rom. xvi. 17.) and the heretics 
to be rejected. (Tit. iii. 10.) Not all, therefore, who bore 
the Christian name, were of the church : and the term 
could be meant only of those, who " continued steadfast," 
as it is said in the Acts (ii. 42.) " in the Apostles' doctrine 
and fellowship." In short, the " one Catholic and Apos- 
tolic Church" of Christ, which in our creed we profess to 
believe, is the church which St. Paul means to designate as 
" the pillar and ground of the truth," and as the appointed 
channel for diffusing through the earth the blessings of light 
and the tidings of salvation. 

To this church, then, of which there are many branches, 
" abiding in Christ, the true Vine," as w r e trust, and " bearing 
fruit," (John xv. 5.) it cannot be questioned by any, who hold 
to the Apostolic model, that the Church of England pre- 
eminently belongs : her government is primitive, being of the 
form which alone was recognised during the early ages ; her 
doctrines are Scriptural, her liturgy, breathing, throughout, 
the purest spirit of the Gospel ; and her worship is at once 
reasonable, decent, orderly, and edifying, removed alike from 
childish and superstitious pageantry, and from irreverence 
and rude familiarity towards the Creator: she has, indeed, 
been admitted even by those, whom local circumstances have 
fixed in other communions, to be the queen of protestant 
churches and the bulwark of the protestant cause. I would 
add, that no church can be better adapted to receive and to 
retain converts in the Eastern world, when once their minds 
shall have been brought to be satisfied with the simple de- 
cencies which are the proper garb of truth. Nor ought it to 
be overlooked, in a view of the question, which may hereafter 
be found important, that her principles are those of order 
and attachment to our national establishments. Strange in- 
deed would be an indifference as to the political prepos- 
sessions of those, who undertake to be the teachers of the 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 



V>5 



people, especially in an empire so circumstanced as the Bri- 
tish empire in India. 

It cannot then be imagined, that in the work prescribed to 
the church of Christ, that branch of it to which we belong 
has no part, nor even a subordinate part to fill. It should 
seem, indeed, if her duties are to be measured by her means 
and opportunities, that no church since the days of the 
Apostles has been called to such high destinies. To what for- 
tuitous coincidence shall we impute if, that at this moment 
her clergy are exercising their ministry in every quarter of 
the globe? In America flourishing churches have grown up 
entirely under her patronage. (A) In Africa a colony has 
been planted, by which her doctrines and discipline are 
brought into contact with the superstitions of ignorant and 
barbarous tribes. In New South Wales she has a field be- 
fore her nearly equal in extent to the whole of Europe. And 
what shall we say of Asia ? A vast empire has been given 
us, or rather imposed upon us ; and wherefore ? He who 
can reconcile such a consummation even to philosophical 
views of the ways of God, without reference to the purposes 
of His manifold wisdom as revealed in Scripture, and can 
believe it to have been brought about merely for the gratifi- 
cation of our avarice or vanity, cannot have advanced very far 
in the knowledge which sound philosophy might teach him : 
it is not merely unchristian, it is unphilosophical, it is un- 
reasonable to believe that God ever works in vain, or even 
brings about mighty revolutions with a view to results com- 
paratively mean and trivial. 

I cannot conclude, however, without briefly adverting to a 
topic closely connected with our present discussion, and not 
unfitly introduced at the present season. Out of the zeal of 
our church and nation, appealed to by royal authority, and at 
the instance of an ancient and chartered society (B), to make 
known the manifold wisdom of God, an institution (C) is likely 
to arise in this vicinity, calculated, as we trust, under Provi- 
dence, to advance the glory of God and the highest interests 
of man. It is designed to be strictly collegiate (D) in constitu- 
tion, in discipline, and in character: its objects will be the 
education of Christian youth in sacred knowledge, in sound 
learning, in the principal languages used in this country, and 
in habits of piety and devotion to their calling, that they may 



126 



THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD 



be qualified to preach among the heathen : the attention of 
the learned persons connected with it will be directed to 
making accurate versions of the Scriptures (E), of the liturgy, 
and of other holy books : it will endeavour to disseminate 
useful knowledge by means of schools, under teachers w r ell 
educated for the purpose ; and it will aim at combining and 
consolidating, so far as may be, into one system, and directing 
into the same course of sentiment and action, the endeavours 
which are here made to advance the Christian cause, The 
favour and patronage of the public in England have been 
eminently displayed towards the projected institution : the 
king's letter, granted to the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts, has been productive beyond all ex- 
ample; and other religious societies and public bodies have 
munificently aided the work. (F) It will be evident, however, 
w T hen the objects (G) are considered, that more abundant 
means will still be requisite to give to such a plan all the effect 
of which it is naturally capable ; nothing perhaps equally 
comprehensive has yet been attempted by any protestant 
church; yet I doubt not that the members of our own, 
wherever dispersed, will be ready to afford it their assistance, 
and more especially in India. With a degree of impatience, 
for which the motive is an ample excuse, some have wished 
that the established church would show herself more promi- 
nently in the great work of diffusing the light of the Gospel 
through the Eastern world. This duty, though not hitherto so 
fully discharged as may have been desired, has never been for- 
gotten. (H) In the present endeavour she avails herself of means 
and opportunities, which until now had been withholden. 
For their efficacy we trust in the Almighty: at the same time 
beseeching him to put it into the hearts of all, to whom the 
appeal (I) shall be made, to further and support an institution 
having no object but his glory, in making known by the 
church his manifold wisdom to those who "have the under- 
standing darkened, and are alienated from the life of God." 
(Eph. vi. 18.) 



MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH. 



IS? 



NOTES. 

Note (A) p. 125. 

Nova Scotia and Quebec are dioceses, forming branches of the esta- 
blished church of England; both of them, but the former especially, are 
deeply indebted to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Fo- 
reign Parts. In Nova Scotia the clergy are appointed and maintained by 
the Society; to whom also whatever is found of episcopacy within the 
United States may in great measure be attributed. The bishops there 
preside over churches formed out of the wreck and remnants of congrega- 
tions, which had been established by the society, and which their mission- 
aries were obliged to abandon in the public commotions, which terminated 
in the separation of the greater part of the colonies from the British 
crown. These churches appear to be increasing in numbers and import- 
ance, although they have not, more than any other religious community, 
support from the state. It cannot, indeed, be matter of surprise, that 
reflecting Christians should, in a country where religion is abandoned to 
anarchy, fanaticism,, or neglect, flee to an asylum, where primitive order 
and sober piety prevail. 

Note (B) p. 125 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was 
incorporated by royal charter in the thirteenth year of the reign of His 
Majesty William III., a.d. 1701. some further particulars will be found in 
the A])j)cndix. On the petition of the society that His present Majesty 
(then Prince Regent) would graciously be pleased to enable them to 
extend their operations to the continent and islands of Asia, a royal letter 
was granted, dated the 10th February 1819, directed to the archbishops of 
the two provinces, and authorising a collection to be made in the churches 
throughout the kingdom, in furtherance of this charitable design. 

Note (C) p. 125. 

The foundation stone of the college of the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, was laid on Friday, the 15th December 
1820, on a piece of ground on the bank of the river, about three miles 
below Calcutta, and adjoining to the Honourable Company's botanic 
garden, granted to the society, in the name of the Honourable Company, 
by the most noble the Marquess of Hastings, governor general in council. 
The following were the prayers used, and the proceedings which took 
place on the occasion :— 

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thy humble 
servants, before we enter upon the work, which we are now assembled to 
take in hand, implore thy grace and blessing. We know that the designs 
of man avail not to thy glory, unless they are accepted for the sake of thy 
Son, and are aided by thy Holy Spirit. The offerings of the rich and the 
counsels of the prudent are alike unprofitable, if Thou, in whose hands are 



1^8 THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN. 



the issues of all things, withholdest the brightness of thy presence. Vouchsafe 
then, O Lord, to look down from heaven, in the abundance of thy mercy, 
on our hearty desires to advance the kingdom of thy Son. Behold us here 
surrounded by millions of our fellow-men, who know not the name of 
Him, by whom alone they can be saved, having their understandings 
darkened, and being sunk into sin and sensuality. Moved with compassion 
at this their state, and desiring to impart to them the blessed knowledge 
and saving faith, which Thou hast mercifully revealed to ourselves, we ask 
thy favour to an institution, adapted, as we believe, under thy gracious 
providence, to the diffusion of truth and of consolation in a Saviour. In 
thy goodness, then, prosper this our undertaking, that so it may redound 
to thy glory and to the salvation of souls. Vouchsafe to all, who shall 
belong to this seminary, thy especial guidance and blessing. Let those 
who shall govern it be ever mindful of the solemn trust committed to 
them, and labour to maintain within its walls sound discipline, and Chris- 
tian holiness. Let those, who shall be instructors, especially direct the 
minds of youth to the objects of their sacred calling. Let the students 
grow up in grace, and become daily more and more disposed to renounce 
all secular allurements in the hope of being accepted instruments in ad- 
vancing the kingdom of thy Son. Let its learned men be mighty in the 
Scriptures, and so skilled in languages, that they may faithfully and intel- 
ligibly propound thy Holy Word. Let its missionaries go forth in meekness, 
in patience, and in love unfeigned, as faithful apostles of Jesus Christ : and 
may all, who shall in any way be admitted to its benefits, be actuated by 
unity of spirit, and speak the same thing : let no schisms, or heresies, 
or divisions, defeat the end of their calling, or give occasion to the enemies 
of Christ to blaspheme : but let primitive truth and apostolical order and 
unwearied labours of love be evidences, that Thou art with them, and that 
thy Spirit has deigned to rest upon the spot, from which they were sent. 
O Lord, we pray thee, accept this place unto thyself : let it be a school of 
pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry and the edifying of the 
body of Christ ; increasing more and more, until this land of darkness be 
illumined in all its recesses with the light of the everlasting Gospel, and 
the Gentiles, sitting down together in the kingdom of their common Re- 
deemer, shall glorify God for his mercy. Hear us, we beseech Thee, for 
the sake of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. 

O Lord, who alone puttest it into the hearts of sinful men to seek thy 
glory, we thank Thee that Thou hast been pleased to stir up in our church 
and nation that zeal for the honour of thy name, of which this institution 
will be, as we trust, among the blessed fruits. Our fathers saw not in 
their day these manifestations of thy kingdom. More especially we bless 
Thee for all the labours of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; and particularly for the extension of their 
charitable designs to this quarter of the globe. We thank Thee that it 
hath pleased our most gracious sovereign to authorize the collection of 
the alms of the pious throughout our native county, in aid of a desire to 
diffuse the light of the Gospel through those parts of the continent and 
islands of Asia, which are subject to British authority. We acknowledge 
it to have been of thy goodness, that other religious societies and public 
bodies have munificently contributed to the furtherance of this Christian 



NOTES. 



129 



enterprise. We recount with gratitude, that the supreme government of 
British India has, on behalf of the Honourable East India Company, and 
for the purposes of this institution, granted and assigned this spot, well 
adapted to the cultivation of sacred studies and to holy retirement. And 
we forget not to praise Thee for every manifestation of good will to this 
design, whether it be from the rich and powerful, or from these who can 
only pray for its prosperity. Suffer not, O Lord, this zeal to abate, if, as 
we trust, it be of Thee, and has been kindled by thy Holy Spirit : that 
when we, who behold the beginning of this work, shall be gathered to our 
fathers, they, who shall come after us, may gladly support and extend it. 
Raise up to this house, we humbly beseech Thee, a never-failing succession 
of benefactors, who shall be animated with the spirit and views of its 
founders ; and whose names may be perpetuated through all generations 
as of blessed memory, and their good deeds be accepted at the throne of 
grace through the sole merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
Amen. 

O Lord Almighty, who hast promised to be evermore with thy church, 
militant here on earth, we commend to thy especial guidance and pro- 
tection that apostolical branch of it of which we are members, and which is 
now established in this country. And herein we pray for our most gracious 
sovereign lord King George, and the whole of the royal family ; for the mi- 
nisters and dispensers of thy word and sacraments, wherever dispersed, and 
for all congregations committed to their charge. More particularly, as we 
are in duty bound, we ask thy blessing on the Honourable the East India 
Company, and on the government of this great empire ; on the Most Noble 
the Marquis of Hastings, the members of the Supreme Council, and on 
all who act in authority under them ; on the judges of the Supreme Court ; 
on the magistracy, and on all ranks and orders of the people ; grant that 
in their respective stations they may be influenced by an unceasing regard 
for the improvement and happiness of the less favoured children of the 
same Creator; and so dispose their hearts, that the renown and dominion 
in these eastern regions, to which thou hast wonderfully exalted our na- 
tion, may be found to have been among the counsels of thy providence for 
the diffusion of thy saving and eternal truth. And suffer not, O Lord, this 
end to be retarded by any habitual violations of thy gospel, among those 
who profess and call themselves Christians ; but teach us all to feel, that 
we are required to be examples to the unbelievers in purity, in piety, and 
in charity. Furthermore, we ask, that thy choicest graces may be vouch- 
safed to those who are called and sent to bear the tidings of salvation to 
the Gentiles. Endue them, O Lord, with that power of thy word, with 
that holiness of life, and singleness of heart, and freedom from the dis- 
traction of secular and party views, which are the endowments of the true 
missionary, and which alone can call down thy blessing on his endeavours. 
Increase the number of those, who in this spirit are ready to devote them- 
selves as apostles of thy blessed Son ; and may the house which we now 
build, be the fruitful parent of those, who having converted many to 
righteousness, shall shine as the stars for ever. Lastly, we commend to 
thy Holy Spirit ourselves, who are here assembled : in this, and in every 
work of charity, may we find our hearts more deeply and surely engaged 
in thy service, and more indifferent to the perishable concerns of the world. 

K 



130 THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN. 

Let every day bring us nearer unto Thee : let a more fervent love of Thee, 
a more profound adoration of thy greatness, and a warmer zeal for thy 
glory be the encouragement and reward of our imperfect endeavours to 
exalt thy name : nor let us forget that, a little while, and all which shall 
remain of our earthly career, shall be the fruits of our faith in Christ, and 
those works which follow us. These prayers we offer unto Thee through 
the sole mediation and merits of Jesus Christ, in whose blessed name and 
words we sum up our petitions : — 
Our Father, $c. 

Then the following inscription was read from a brass plate : — 

INDIVIDUO. ET. BENEDICTS. TRINITATI. GLORIA, 

COLLEGIL MISSIONARY 
SOCIETATIS. DE. PROPAGANDO. APUD. EXTEROS. 
EVANGELIO. 
EPISCOPALIS. AUTEM. NUNCUPANDI. 
PRIMUM. LAPIDEM. POSUIT. 
THOMAS. FANSHAW. EPISCOPUS. CALCUTTENSIS. 
PRECIBUS. ADJUVANTE. ARCHIDIACONO. COTERO* 
QUE. CLERO. 
RESPONDENTS. ET. FAVENTE. CORONA. 
DIE. XV. DECEMBRIS. 
ANNO. SALUTIS. MDCCCXX. 
BRITANNIARUM. REGIS. GEORGII. IV. PRIMO. 
PRINCEPS. ILLE. AUGUSTISSIMUS. 
QUUM. REGENTIS. MUNERE. FUNGERETUR. 
LITERAS. SOCIETATI BENIGNE. CONCESSIT. 
QUIBUS. PIORVM. ELEEMOSYNAS. 
PER. ANGLIAM. UNIVERSAM. PETERE. LICERET. 
HOS. IN. USUS. EROGANDAS. 
IN. EOSDEM. VIR. NOB1LISSIMUS. 
FRANCISCUS. MARCHIO. DE. HASTINGS. 
REBUS. INDICIS. FELICITER. PROPOSITUS. 
AGRI. SEXAGINTA. BIGAS. BENGALENSES. 
AD. RIPAM. GANGETIS. PROPE. CALCUTTAM. 
NOMINE. CCETUS. HONORABILIS. MERCATORUM. 
ANGLICORUM. 
CHARTULIS. ASSIGNAVIT. 
SOCIETAS. VERO. DE. PROMOVENDA. DOCTRINA. 
CHRISTIANA. 
PARTICEPS. CONSILII. FACTA. 
GRANDEM. EST. LARGITA. PECUNIAM. 

ILLA. ITIDEM. MISSIONARIA. 
CUI. NOMEN. AB ECCLESIA. DUCTUM. 
NE. TALI. TANTOQUE. DEESSET. INCEPTO. 
PAR. MUNUS. ULTRO. DETULIT. 
CHRISTI. NON. SINE. NUMINE. 
LOTA. HOC. FUISSE. PRIMORDIA. 
CREDANT. AGNOSCANT. POSTERI. 
AMEN. 

Then the plate was deposited, and the stone was laid, and the bishop 
pronouncing : — 

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one 
God blessed for ever, I lay this the foundation stone of the Episcopal 



NOTES. 



131 



Mission College of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts, to be commonly called and known as " Bishop's 
College, near Calcutta." 

O Father Almighty, through whose aid we have now commenced this 
work of charity, we bless Thee that we have lived to this day; O prosper 
the work to its conclusion ; and grant that so many of us as thy provi- 
dence shall preserve to witness its solemn dedication, may join together in 
heart and in spirit in praising thy name, and in adoring thy mercy, and in 
supplicating thy favour to this house evermore ; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 

The peace of God, &c. &c. 

JVofc(D), p. 125. 

The intention is to make the discipline and studies established in our 
English universities, with so much benefit to the cause of true religion and 
sound learning, the basis of the constitution of the College near Calcutta ; 
and to raise upon them such a superstructure, as the circumstances of this 
country and the particular destination of the students may require. The 
site of the college ensures seclusion and freedom from interruption : the 
students will be constantly within their own walls or grounds, except by 
special permission, and be subject to a system of order and restraint ; and 
the chapel, the hall, and the lecture rooms will claim their regular attend- 
ance at specified hours. In their studies, theology, with all that is subsidiary 
to it, will form the prominent employment of those who are designed for 
the ministry; combining with the study of the Holy Scriptures, Hebrew 
and the learned languages, ecclesiastical and profane history, the ele- 
ments of natural philosophy, and so much of mathematical knowledge as 
may tend to invigorate their minds and facilitate all other acquirements. 
They who shall be destined to be school-masters, will have their studies 
in like manner directed to their future efficiency : they will be well 
grounded in classical learning, and be furnished with all those branches of 
knowledge which may conduce to open the minds and dissipate the preju- 
dices of the native population of India. By both classes of students, however, 
the Oriental languages, those especially used in the districts, which may 
be expected to become the scene of their future labours, will be cultivated 
with the greatest application; and all will be familiarised with the prin- 
ciples which attach British subjects to their national establishments, and 
be trained in feelings of respect and deference for the constituted au- 
thorities in India : and it is hoped, that with the divine blessing, early ha- 
bits of piety and industry, and self-control, combined with an affectionate 
remembrance of the place of their education, will give to the students a 
character of mind and sentiment which they will never lose, and by which 
they shall be marked and known in all future life. 

Note (E), p. 126. 

Some of the latest periodical publications announce, that the offer of a 
considerable sum of money has been voted to the college in this specific 
department of its proposed operations, but no official intelligence to that 
effect has yet been received. 

K 2 



132 



THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN. 



Note{¥\ p. 1 26. 

The royal letter is understood to have produced about 4 7,000/., or 
nearly 48,000/. : on any former occasion the sum raised never actually 
reached 20,000/. The late collection includes a grant of 500/. from the 
university of Oxford, and several liberal contributions from other public 
bodies and from opulent individuals. Of the proceeds the society antici- 
pated 5,000/. by a vote to that amount, to the bishop of Calcutta, to enable 
him, in any way which he might deem advisable, to extend the operations 
of the society to the East, and this sum has been applied to the erection 
of the college. The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge having 
been invited to co-operate with the sister society, also placed the sum of 
5,000/. at the bishop's disposal, to be applied to the purposes of the col- 
lege ; and the Church Missionary Society immediately voted to the bishop 
an equal sum in furtherance of the same object. 

Note(G\ £>.126. 

The objects of the college, as originally projected, were enumerated in a 
letter, addressed by the bishop of Calcutta to the secretary of the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts : of that letter a very 
large impression was distributed in England, and it found its way into most 
of the periodical publications which notice religious proceedings. It may be 
right, notwithstanding, to state briefly that the college is founded for a prin- 
cipal and two other professors, and for as many students as the funds of the 
society shall enable them to maintain in college, and whom they can after- 
wards provide for as missionaries, schoolmasters, or catechists at the sta- 
tions to which they may be appointed ; such stations to be under episcopal 
jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical or spiritual, and subject in other 
points to the visitation of the visitor of the college. As the object of the 
institution is definite, no students can be admitted who are intended for 
secular situations in life ; and some assurance will probably be required at 
admission, that the candidates are sent thither with no other view than to 
qualify themselves for duties contemplated in the institution, on con- 
dition of being maintained in the college for a certain period, and provided 
for afterwards from the college funds, or, perhaps, from other funds de- 
stined to the same objects, and equally well secured ; and some probation 
may be requisite to ascertain the disposition and abilities of the candidates, 
who might otherwise be wholly unfit to advance the objects of the institu- 
tion, while its resources would thus be diverted from their proper and 
productive use. The statutes, however, will define more precisely several 
points which cannot so well be taken into consideration, until some pro- 
bable notion may be formed of the actual revenues of the college, or of 
its reasonable expectations. 

It has been already stated, that abundant means will be required to 
carry this plan into full effect. By much the greater part of the three 
several sums of 5,000/. each will be necessarily expended in completing the 
college, including the offices and printing-house ; and, probably, but little 
will remain when the printing-house shall have been supplied with presses 
and types, and furniture shall have been purchased for the hall, the library, 
the dormitories, and the lecture rooms, and the books most wanted shall 



NOTES. 



133 



have been bought for the college library, Of the sum collected under the 
royal letter, if the whole shall be funded as a permanent endowment, the 
interest will not be more than sufficient to defray the salaries of the emi- 
nent and learned men who may be appointed to the college professor- 
ships. Provision is still to be made by the society for the maintenance of 
students in the college, and for their support after they shall have left it. 

With regard to the comprehensiveness of the design of the institution, 
the views of the society may be ascertained from the royal letter, wherein 
they are stated to be desirous to extend the range of their labours to 
" such parts of the continent and islands of Asia as are under the royal 
protection and authority." Persons, therefore, who may be required as 
instruments for diffusing truth and knowledge in any of the languages 
principally used through those wide regions, in Hindoostanee or Bengalee, 
in Tamul or Teloogoo, in Mahratta or Guzerattee, in Singhalese or in 
Malay, may be severally prepared and qualified for the undertaking, so 
soon as students from the several districts, in which those languages re- 
spectively prevail, can be maintained by the society, and missionary sta- 
tions shall find the means of support in the several countries from which 
such students came. There is, in fact, no district within the limits of the 
British possessions in the East, to which the benefits of the'college may 
not eventually be extended. Moonshees, skilled in those languages re- 
spectively, must of course be retained ; who will be further wanted in the 
department of translations to be used at the stations, at which such 
students shall be employed on their return to their~"native country. 
Every station will be served by an English missionary (a clergyman), as- 
sisted by persons (either natives, or of European parentage,) who have 
been educated in the college. 

Note (H), 126. 

The success which has attended the labours of the Society for promoting 
Christian Knowledge in the south of India, where several thousands of 
Christians, the converts, or the descendants of the converts, of their 
missionaries, are now living in a manner which carries back the mind to 
the early ages of the Gospel, sufficiently attests, that the church of 
England has not been altogether regardless of the Heathen ; and at the 
same time it proves, that the difficulties which lie in the way of conversion 
are not absolutely insuperable. 

Note (I), p. 126. 

The appeal is now made in the diocese of Calcutta, by the partial 
distribution of the preceding sermon and of the statements annexed to it, 
in the hope that they who are zealous for the diffusion of truth and 
knowledge, through the eastern world, such especially as are solicitous 
that the established church should maintain its just rank in this great 
undertaking, will find enough in the present attempt, to merit their en- 
couragement and patronage. It may be proper, however, in reference 
to an institution, of a character in some respects so new in India, to 
point out in what way, they who may be generally disposed to promote 
it, may appropriate their benefactions ; at the same time suggesting in 

K 3 



134 THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN. 



what departments of the college expenditure, their aid will, for the 
present, be most urgently required. The whole may be classed under the 
heads of 

1. Missionary Stations. 

2. Scholarships in College. 
5. The College Library. 

4. The College Press. 

5. Christian Schools. 

6. Native Schools. 

7. The Fabric Fund. 

8. General Purposes. 

1. The society for founding the college, contemplates the establishment 
of missionary stations, wherever an opening shall seem to present itself for 
accomplishing their benevolent purposes. To supply such stations with 
missionaries and their proper assistants, and to keep up a never-failing 
succession of them is their primary object ; to which every thing else is 
collateral and subsidiary. But before this can be effected, it is obvious 
that students must be maintained in the college and duly prepared for 
their allotted labours. It may seem, therefore, that the question of sup- 
plying stations is posterior to that of maintaining students, and may thus 
be for the present postponed ; it must be considered, however, that the 
admission of students into the college must in great measure be regulated 
by the prospect of a provision for them afterwards ; and such provision 
will be generally (although not invariably in respect of schoolmasters,) by 
their appointment to some missionary station. It is, therefore, of the 
greatest importance, that the public benevolence as applicable to this 
head, should shew itself early, and in truth it is the point, to which above 
all others, the society may be presumed to wish, that attention should be 
directed : benefactions, therefore, made specially applicable to this depart- 
ment will be suffered to accumulate, until such stations can be actually 
formed. 

2. The foundation of scholarships is only second in importance to the 
preceding head, and even prior to it in actual operation. A scholarship, 
it is computed, taking the average on the difference of expence in main- 
taining European students, (or those of European habits,) and natives, 
and reckoning on a moderate rate of interest, may be founded and 
endowed for 5000 sicca rupees. On the interest of this sum one student 
at a time may be constantly educated in the college, free of every charge : 
and every scholarship so endowed will, as in our English universities, 
be for ever denominated from the name of the founder, who moreover 
will have the privilege of recommending the first scholar, being a youth 
duly qualified according to the statutes, and to be subject in all respects 
to their operation. Other sums, however small, being directed to be 
appropriated to this object, will be applied to the maintenance of a 
student, when the aggregate shall be found sufficient. 

5. The college library is calculated to receive nearly 5000 volumes. It 
will be desirable to store it with the most approved works in theology, 
especially of the great divines of the church of England ; in biblical cri- 
ticism ; in ecclesiastical and general history; in Oriental literature, 
including dictionaries and grammars ; with classical authors, and with a 



NOTES. 



135 



few books of science; the purchase of all which will obviously be attended 
with considerable expence. 

4. The college press will, it is hoped, embrace an important and effi- 
cient department of the college labours. For the expence of printing 
versions of the Holy Scriptures, if a statement already alluded to may be 
credited, provision for some time will probably have been made ; but for 
printing versions of the liturgy, of short religious treatises and tracts, such 
as those of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, of elementary 
books of science, and of school books, a considerable fund will in time be 
required ; and from the very commencement of the college labours, some- 
thing may be attempted in this way. 

5 & 6. Both Christian and native schools are within the contemplation 
of the society. One of the former kind will be indispensable to every 
missionary station, and such might be established to great advantage in 
some instances, where no missionary station could conveniently be formed. 
In native schools the elements of useful knowledge and the English 
language will be taught, wherever it may seem desirable, without any 
immediate reference to Christianity. In either case, it will be among the 
objects of the college to supply masters well qualified for the undertaking. 
The provision for such while they remain in college, will fall under the 
second head of expenditure ; and for those who should be attached to 
stations, under the first head: all other schools would form a distinct 
concern. 

7. Great inconvenience has been sometimes snstained by collegiate and 
similar institutions, where no provision had been made to preserve the 
fabric, or to restore it when fallen into inevitable decay. The college 
buildings, it is expected, will be of as durable construction, as any which 
have lately been erected in this country ; but the expediency is manifest, 
especially considering the ravages made by the climate, of having a small 
fund in reserve, the accumulations of which would remove all appre- 
hension. 

8. Under the head of benefactions to general purposes, must evidently 
be understood sums applicable, according to the intention of the donor, not 
only to any of the objects already specified, such as in the judgment of the 
society and the college authorities may be deemed most conducive to 
carrying on the designs of the institution, but generally to any expences 
which may arise, and are unavoidable in such an establishment, as to the 
payment of the salaries of moonshees, pundits, and servants : every thing, in 
fact, which is implied in an appeal to the public liberality, is comprised under 
this head; and the minute enumeration of the proposed branches of 
expenditure is intended, partly to exhibit more fully the objects of the 
institution, and partly, where there may be a strong feeling of preference 
towards any one of them, to allow it the means of shewing itself, and thus 
of stimulating others in the same course of benevolence. At the same 
time, it is suggested, that although all the objects enumerated will be es- 
sential to the institution in that state of activity and extensive usefulness, 
which through the blessing of providence its founders hope it may attain, 
yet some of them are identified with the very commencement of its 
labours, and on the accomplishment of these its further exertions must 
depend. It remains only to be noticed, that benefactions in support of 

K 4 



136 



THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN. 



the college will be received by the venerable the archdeacons within their 
respective archdeaconries, or may be transmitted through any other 
channel to the bank of Bengal, or other the treasurer for the time being, 
to be placed to the account of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, in aid of the funds of their missionary 
establishment, called Bishop's College, near Calcutta, under the head 
of . All such benefactions shall be thankfully acknow- 

ledged and recorded in the Annual Abstract of the Society's Proceedings, 
published in London, of which copies will be distributed in India : and of 
all benefactions and legacies of more than ordinary amount, the remem- 
brance will be perpetuated in the Commemoration of the Founders and 
Benefactors to be solemnised annually in the college chapel. 

The college is already indebted to the benevolence of several indi- 
viduals, who have afforded it, in various ways, valuable and gratuitous 
professional services, which, however, may be better alluded to, than 
distinctly specified, in this place. 

The benefactions are at present, from 
The Bishop of Calcutta, towards the fitting up and embellish- 
ment of the college chapel, Sa. Rs. - - - - - - 4000 

C. T. Metcalfe, Esq., the resident at Hyderabad, a piece of land, 
on the river bank, by which the estate is greatly improved, mea- 
suring one biggah and three cottahs - - - - 

Major General St. George Ashe, for general purposes - - 500 



APPENDIX. 



137 



APPENDIX. 

As but little, comparatively, can be known in India of a society which is 
now only beginning to extend its exertions to this quarter of the globe, it 
may be useful to reprint from a very interesting and instructive work, 
called Propaganda *, a table, serving to show the range and magnitude 
of its operations in those fields of labour, in which it has been so long, and 
still continues to be occupied, together with the author's Remarks upon 
the same. 



* Attributed to the Reverend Josiah Pratt, 



138 



THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN. 



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APPENDIX. 



139 



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140 



THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN. 



Salary. 


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APPENDIX. 



141 



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142 THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN, 



REMARKS ON THE PRECEDING TABLE. 



The early years of the society were engaged in investigating the scene 
of its intended labours, and in thus laying a solid foundation for its future 
exertions. Before missionaries were appointed to particular places, it was 
resolved to send a clergyman to travel through the several governments of 
British America, and to preach therein, in order to awaken the people to 
a sense of the duties of religion. 

The Rev. George Keith left England, with this view, in April 1702. In 
two years he travelled through ten distinct governments, extending 800 
miles in length, and was both diligent and successful. In these labours 
he was greatly assisted by the Rev. John Talbot, who was chaplain of the 
ship in which Mr. Keith sailed, and became his associate in his travels. 

This good beginning was followed up by other exertions ; missionaries 
being sent out to New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
North Carolina, and South Carolina: of the establishment and early his- 
tory of which missions, Dr. Humphreys has given copious details. To these 
states the labours of the society, as will be seen by the table, were limited 
till 1734, when they were extended to Georgia and the Bahamas; in 1736, 
to Newfoundland ; and, in 1749, to Nova Scotia. 

In 1767 the support of the missionaries in South Carolina, which had 
been gradually diminishing, was wholly withdrawn, the state having made 
provision for their maintenance : this mission was, however, partially re- 
sumed in 1770, when a missionary was sent for the particular benefit of 
certain palatines from Germany, who resided in that state. 

The exertions of the society had been gradually increasing as the British 
colonies in America advanced in population. A little before the time of 
the declaration of independence on the part of the present United States, 
these exertions had reached their height. In the troubles which ensued, 
they gradually declined; and in the year 1799, suffered a very sensible di- 
minution. In 1784, soon after the acknowledgment of the independence 
of the states by this country, the missionaries were reduced to a very 
small number : in that year; indeed, the society allowed, besides the sti- 
pends to missionaries mentioned in the table, the sum of 695/. to nineteen 
missionaries who continued to officiate in the Independent States; and 
the further sum of 710/. to seventeen others then unavoidably unem- 
ployed. 

Canada, New Brunswick, and the island of Cape Breton, now began to 
claim the attention of the society ; and its exertions increased in New- 
foundland and Nova Scotia; into these provinces various missionaries 
removed from the United States. Both into those states, and into the 
British provinces, the Episcopal government of the church has been since 
happily introduced : an object which the society had contemplated from 
the beginning ; and it now reaps the reward of its persevering labours in 
the present promising state of religion in those countries. 



APPENDIX. 



143 



It will be seen by the table that a missionary was sent to Guinea in the 
year 1751 ; it was intended that he should itinerate among the negroes: 
after a few years this was relinquished, but the attempt to benefit the ne- 
groes in Africa was resumed in 1766, by the appointment of the Rev. Phi- 
lip Quaque, a native, educated in England, at the expense of the society, 
as missionary, catechist, and schoolmaster to the negroes on the Gold 
Coast; in which office he continued till his death, a period of about fifty 
years, when he was succeeded by the Rev. VV. Phillip, chaplain to the Afri- 
can Company, who is also since dead. In 1787 a teacher was appointed 
to attend the negroes sent to Sierra Leone, but returned after a few years, 
on account of ill health. 

But besides these attempts to benefit the negroes which appear in the 
preceding table, it is manifest, from various extracts given in this work, 
that the negro slaves in the British colonies were very early an object of 
the society's anxious care. All its missionaries were instructed to promote 
the good work of their conversion ; nor did they labour in vain, numbers 
being brought to an intelligent communion with the church. The earliest 
attempts of this kind were made in the state of New York ; and of these 
Dr. Humphreys has given a particular narration. In order to engage the 
masters of the slaves to promote their conversion, the society dispersed in 
the colonies a great number of copies of Bishop Fleetwood's sermon, 
preached in 1711; that sermon forcibly setting forth the duty of giving 
Christian instruction to the slaves. In 1725 this sermon was reprinted, 
and large numbers of it again distributed. Bishop Gibson became a se- 
cond advocate for the conversion of the negroes : he addressed a " Letter 
to the Masters and Mistresses of Families in the English Plantations 
abroad," in which he exhorted them to encourage and promote the in- 
struction of their negroes in the Christian faith : his lordship addressed a 
second " Letter to the Missionaries in the English Plantations," exhorting 
them to give their assistance toward the instruction of the negroes within 
their several parishes : soon after, the bishop wrote " An Address to Seri- 
ous Christians." with a view to stir them up to assist the society in carry- 
ing on this work. These pieces are printed in Dr. Humphrey's history, 
and show the bishop to have been an able and zealous advocate of this 
good cause. The eminent services since rendered to it by Bishop Porteus, 
and now continued by Bishop Howley, have been already mentioned. 

The aborigines of America were another object of the society's care. 
Dr. Humphreys gives a full account of the attempts of the missionaries to 
convert the Iroquois Indians, then bordering on the colony of New York. 
These attempts were extended, as circumstances offered, to other tribes ; 
and many curious particulars respecting them are scattered through the 
annual abstracts of proceedings. In 1768, as will be seen in the table, a 
mission was begun in Florida : this was, in fact, the appointment of a ca- 
techist for the Indians on the Mosquito shore. The next year a mission- 
ary was added ; and this attempt was continued, till it sunk, with others, 
under the change of political circumstances. 

In 1796 the society began to make some allowance to schoolmasters in 
New South Wales, and afterwards granted 20/. per annum to two teachers 
in that colony, and the same sum to two others in Norfolk Island. 

Of the number of missionaries, &c. mentioned in the table, seldom so 



144 THE WISDOM OF GOD MADE KNOWN. 



man)' as a fourth were catechists or schoolmasters previous to the inde- 
pendence of the States, the rest being missionaries ; but, on occasion of 
the society's exertions in the British provinces, a greater proportion of 
schoolmasters and catechists was found requisite, being frequently more 
than a third of the whole number ; and latterly, as may be seen by the 
subjoined list for the year 1818, constituting nearly half of the whole. 
The salaries of these teachers are comparatively small, varying from 5/. per 
annum to 20/., as other advantages attend the appointments. 

Besides the missionaries and schoolmasters enumerated in the table, the 
society maintained for many years several teachers in Barbadoes, out of 
the produce of an estate left to it in that island by General Codrington, in 
the year 1703. 

The average expenditure of the society has much exceeded its regular 
income. Application has in consequence frequently been made for royal 
letters, authorising collections of charity, from house to house, throughout 
England and Wales, in furtherance of the society's designs. Such letters 
were accordingly granted at various times, as stated in the king's letter 
lately issued, and which forms the first article in this work. A collection 
which was thus made in 1741, amounted to somewhat more than 15,000/. ; 
another, in 1751, to nearly 20,000/.; and another, in 1779, under the au- 
thority of His present Majesty, to 19,474/. 125. 8d. His majesty contribut- 
ing 500/. toward that sum. 

Grants have latterly been ma'de by parliament in aid of the society. It 
will be seen from the table, that in 1785 the expenditure rose to nearly 
double that of the preceding year ; a grant from parliament having been 
obtained in support of the expenses of the society, more particularly in 
Nova Scotia, in virtue of which the salaries of the missionaries in that 
province were raised to 200/. per annum, having been before from 35/. to 
100/. In the year 1816 parliament granted 5730/. in aid of the expenses 
of the society in the North American colonies generally : the stipends of 
all the missionaries were, in consequence, raised to 200/. ; and some few, 
under particular circumstances, still higher. In 1817 the grant was 7860/., 
and in 1818 it amounted to 8126/. 5s. 



CHARGE 

DELIVERED TO 

THE CLERGY OF THE ARCHDEACONRY 

OF 

HUNTINGDON, 

AT 

THE PRIMARY VISITATION, 

On the 13th, Uth, and 15th of May, 1812. 

By T. F. MIDDLETON, D. D. 

AIICHDEACON OF HUNTINGDON, 
AND VICAlt OF SAINT PANCRAS, MIDDLESEX. 



TO 

THE REVEREND 

THE CLERGY OF THE ARCHDEACONRY 

OF 

HUNTINGDON, 

THE FOLLOWING CHARGE, 

HONOURED BY THEIR APPROBATION, AND PUBLISHED AT 
THEIR REQUEST, 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
BY 

THEIR FAITHFUL FRIEND 

. AND OBEDIENT SERVANT, 

THE AUTHOR. 

St. Pancras Vicarage, 
15th June, 1812. 



L 2 



CHARGE, &c. 



MY REVEREND BRETHREN, 

The partial judgment of the distinguished prelate, who has 
for so many years, to the great benefit of the Christian cause, 
presided over this diocese, has called me to a station, in which 
it becomes my duty to address this venerable assembly. In 
no circumstances of the church could I proceed to the per- 
formance of such a task without feelings of apprehension and 
mistrust : the topics, which on these occasions are offered to 
your attention, are always important, and they deeply affect 
the responsibility of him who is required to discuss them ; 
but at the present period they are unusually momentous, and 
some of them are involved in more than ordinary perplexity : 
at no era since the revival of religion has error on the part of 
your advisers threatened more serious mischief, and at none 
have impending dangers been more likely to bewilder the 
judgment, or has prejudice been more unfavourable to the 
discovery or reception of the truth. Endeavouring to guard 
against the operation of whatever may mislead myself or you, 
I would direct your notice to some particulars intimately 
connected with the present condition of our church, as form- 
ing the fittest subject of this primary address. 

Christianity, purified from the corruptions of popery, and 
uninfected with the dogmas of modern fanaticism, has been 
established in this realm ; it has been incorporated with the 
civil government : it has its formularies of faith and worship, 

l 3 



150 



A CHARGE TO 



its discipline, its priesthood, its hierarchy : it has provided for 
the maintenance of its ministers, for the uniformity of their 
doctrine, and for the instruction of youth in its own religious 
tenets. 1 The integrity of this constitution has been protected 
by legislative sanctions ; and in specified cases the state has 
refused to entrust her safety in the hands of persons profess- 
ing a faith different from her own. Such is the established 
church of England ; and it originates, not in metaphysical 
abstractions or the fervours of a persecuting zeal, but in wis- 
dom resulting from experience and a knowledge of the human 
heart. It has been found indispensable to the peace of so- 
ciety that some species of religion should be invested with 
ascendancy, and ascendancy can be maintained only by ex- 
clusion. It is desirable that the religion thus preferred 
should exactly accord in doctrine and discipline with the 
Scriptural standard ; and in this particular no species of 
Christianity admits so easy and complete vindication as that 
of our church ; yet even this is not essential to an establish- 
ment which is founded, not in theological truth, but in politi- 
cal expediency. 2 If, indeed, demonstrable and acknowledged 
truth were made the condition, to no species of faith would 
this pre-eminence be conceded : the professor of the, worst 
perversion of Christianity must maintain that his own creed 
is the true one ; and instead of an establishment forming a 
permanent bond of peace, we should have only the temporary 
domination of the strong, and the subjugation and persecution 
of the weak. Christians, however, who are partially ex- 
cluded from civil advantages have still important claims : if 
political expediency require an establishment, justice demands 

1 The 77th, 78th, and 79th canons treat of the qualifications and duties of 
schoolmasters ; and the 59th requires the clergy to catechise, and the people to 
send their children and dependants to be instructed. 

2 On this point there appears to be some misapprehension. We do not main- 
tain, that because our religion is established, it is therefore true : at most this is 
only a presumption founded on the Scriptural knowledge, the great piety, the 
moderate views, and the tried constancy of our excellent reformers : its truth can 
be certainly deduced only from its agreement with Scripture. But though we 
do not argue that what is established must be true, we hold it to be even more 
unreasonable to infer, as some appear to do, that because it is established it is 
false : we deprecate unfounded insinuations against what is sometimes contemp- 
tuously called a state religion ; as if it were a contrivance to uphold political 
abuses, or in any degree derived its character from that of the government, 
however unimpeachable. In this country, happily, the established religion needs 
not shrink from the test of Scripture, and of the practice and interpretation of the 
primitive ages ; and we desire only that it may be referred to such a standard. 



THE CLERGY OF HUNTINGDON. 



151 



toleration : violence is not to be offered even to erroneous 
conviction : the exercise of religious worship when uncon- 
nected with political purposes or tendencies, falls not within 
the cognizance of the magistrate ; he is to leave it where he 
found it, in the breast of the worshipper, and under the eye 
of God. The limits of this indefeasible right, though attempts 
are daily made to obscure them, are clearly defined : the 
criterion is an appeal to the conscience : Am I required to 
profess opinions, or to adopt a practice repugnant, as I be- 
lieve, to the Word of God ? My conscience revolts at the 
impiety, and is not to be coerced : Do I insist on being ad- 
mitted to the civil distinctions which the state has reserved 
for the professors of other tenets ? The plea of conscience 
fails, and gives place to that of ambition. So distinguishable 
to the unprejudiced understanding are the boundaries between 
toleration and establishment. 

There is, however, a stage in the progress of public 
opinion, at which the wisest enactments of human policy are 
liable to be swept away in the torrent of innovation. The 
sanctions of law lose much of their strength when their fitness 
is overlooked in the tumult of the passions, or the numbers 
of those have greatly increased who are interested in subvert- 
ing them. To that stage we appear to be rapidly advancing : 
if ever there was a time when our church derived an adventi- 
tious security from popular predilection, that period is past : 
the current is turned against us : its legitimate claims are not 
readily acknowledged : — the usefulness of the clergy is in 
danger of being depreciated : — religious liberty has dege- 
nerated into licentiousness ; and in the present state of religi- 
ous worship in a great part of the metropolis, the people will 
soon cease to know what are the distinguishing tenets of our 
church. In attempting a brief illustration of these several 
positions, I shall not seek to suppress or palliate unwelcome 
truths, believing that in a just estimate of our danger is our 
only safety. 

Discussions have arisen, and are still going on, in which 
the claims of the establishment, though they are not the point 
at issue, are deeply and inevitably involved. Nothing, indeed, 
has happened which might not have been foreseen. The his- 
tory of coalitions does not authorise us to expect a long con- 

L 4 



152 



A CHARGE TO 



tinuance of cordial co-operation : and their expediency can- 
not subsequently be agitated without forcing into notice objects 
which were studiously kept out of sight when first the coali- 
tion was projected. A difference of views and interests is 
implied in the notion of such an alliance : and the seeds of 
discord are sown inadvertently, at the moment when we 
are sacrificing our fears and jealousies to a common cause. 
In a religious controversy thus generated, it is evident that 
the church cannot be a gainer : its claims, if not urged, will 
certainly not be recognised : and yet the superiority, which is 
not felt and acknowledged, it is invidious to assert. In such 
a dilemma are we now involved : establishment implies ascend- 
ancy : it makes the church the rule, while it classes the sects 
as exceptions : prerogative is incommunicable, or it is no- 
thing : yet these principles are overlooked in the proceedings 
of the dav, and are but faintlv maintained in the writings of 
our controversialists. It is the practice tacitly to assume that 
all Christians are on the footing of equality, not only as 
Christians, which they unquestionably are, standing in one 
general relation towards God, but also in then* relation to a 
church enjoying certain civil sanctions, and professing certain 
peculiar doctrines : but this is obviously untrue : and not less 
so is the consequence deduced from it, that all Christians, 
without dereliction of interest or consistency, may further the 
views of any sect or sects engaged in a commendable under- 
taking. The views of churchmen and dissenters cannot be 
absolutely the same, however true it may be that they have 
somewhat, and even much, in common ; and the engagement 
not to propagate peculiar tenets, even when strictly adhered 
to, has more of the semblance of an equitable compromise, 
than it has of the reality. In fact the parties do not meet 
upon equal terms : the sects are some of them of a negative 
rather than a positive character, and even in point of doctrine 
have not much to give up : while others may calculate on the 
power of private zeal to compensate the effects of public for- 
bearance ; they may prudently submit to temporary incon- 
venience in the hope of future aggrandisement : and they 
possess, in every controversy with the church, the singular 
advantage, that they are not bound to any definite principles, 
but can relinquish, at least for the moment, the ground which 



THE CLERGY OF HUNTINGDON. 



153 



is found to be untenable. 1 The case of the church is diffe- 
rent ; and so far from lamenting this circumstance, we regard 
it as an argument in behalf of an establishment : the church 
has no power to abandon its tenets, and it has no right to 
suppress them : its positive doctrines, and the public profes- 
sion of them, are parts of the charter by which it holds its 
existence. 

These reflections, you will readily perceive, have been sug- 
gested by two recent institutions. It must, however, be ad- 
mitted, that the Bible Society, and what are called the Lan- 
casterian schools, though connected by a manifest analogy, 
stand on somewhat different grounds. Every churchman 
must wish for the dispersion of the Bible, but he will wish 
for something more, and the deficiency may possibly be sup- 
plied : it is possible that every subscribing churchman may 
accompany his gift with explanatory treatises and comments ; 
perhaps, it is possible, that the sectaries may not extend their 
liberality beyond their own pale, in the hope of making pro- 
selytes ; but in the case of the schools, even these saving pos- 
sibilities are excluded by the very condition of the question : 
there the sacrifice on the part of the church is not contingent, 
but certain ; it is preliminary to the whole proceeding ; the 
abandonment of religious instruction and of our church cate- 
chism, the great outwork of our church, is the basis on which 
we are to treat ; its ascendancy is not merely not recognised, 
it is disclaimed 2 ; and the method pursued is the most effect- 

1 This privilege has not been overlooked in modern times : the Unitarians will 
not be regarded as Socinians, though they go far beyond the impiety of the Ra~ 
covian catechism : and the " Refutation of Calvinism," which has exhausted 
all the stores of erudition and argument applicable to its subject, is asserted to 
have little or no reference to existing errors ! " Quo teneam vultus mutantem 
Protea nodo?" 

2 " If any particular sect," says Mr. Lancaster, " obtained the principal care 
in a national system of education, that part would soon be likely to possess the 
the greatest power and influence in the state." Here the national church is by 
implication made to be a sect ; and we are tacitly cautioned against the conse- 
quences of its ascendancy. More explicit is the language of a late resolution, in 
which thanks are voted u to the first city in the world for its approbation and 
sanction to those principles of toleration, the universal application of which forms 
the distinguishing features of the Lancasterian institution." It cannot fail to 
strike even the dullest understanding, that whatever is in its nature favourable to 
toleration, such as is here plainly intended, must be prejudicial to the establish- 
ment. It cannot mean the liberty to worship God according to the dictates of 
conscience, for that is not in question : the toleration here spoken of is a forbear- 
ance to produce any early bias in favour of the national church; to say, in favour 
of any system of belief whatever, is not enough, since toleration always supposes 
power, which resides only in the establishment : we never speak of Quakers to- 



154 



A CHARGE TO 



ual which ingenuity could have devised for accomplishing its 
destruction. If this desperate empiricism had continued to 
engross the public patronage, in another generation the prin- 
ciples of our church, however they might have been preserved 
in the dead-letter of our liturgy, assuredly would not have 
lived in the hearts and associations of the people. 

Another circumstance, to which we should advert, is the 
growing opinion, that the word of God is sufficiently intel- 
ligible without the aid of interpretation. If this be true, 
a learned clergy has no duties to perform, which are not 
merely ministerial ; and we must relinquish much of the 
estimation and the means of usefulness, which we have 
hitherto enjoyed. On such a subject I am aware that it 
is necessary to proceed with the most guarded moderation. 
To maintain that the Scriptures are utterly unintelligible 
to the great mass of mankind, is, in its consequence, a plea 
for restoring the fallen fabric of papal infallibility : but 
there is danger in the other extreme, which goes directly 
to authorise all the extravagance, which has disgraced 
Christianity and distracted the world, and to set up a worse 
than papal infallibity in every man's own judgment, or 
more frequently his own imagination : it is to give confi- 
dence to ignorance, to administer to pride, and to multiply 
division to infinity. But neither the language of Scripture 
nor the institutions of Christianity countenance such an 
opinion. We are reminded, indeed, of our Saviour's declar- 
ation, " If any man will do the will of God, he shall 
" know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, [or, whether 
" I speak of myself." *] Our Lord herein asserts, what 
abundant experience has verified, that the great obstacle 

lerating Unitarians ; the church, therefore, is the party whose forbearance is to be 
the foundation of the benefits projected by the society ; and what Mr. L. had 
endeavoured to represent as a perfect neutrality towards every species of Christian 
faith, is now found to be a pointed hostility towards that which is established. 
The resolution, indeed, speaks of the universality with which the principles of 
toleration are applied in the Lancasterian institution : but this circumstance, if 
the term toleration has been rightly explained, will hardly recommend the insti- 
tution to the patronage of churchmen : such universality is no other than the dis- 
position universally manifested by sectaries to take advantage of the forbearance 
of the church, when it consents to abandon the only means of preserving its ex- 
istence. See Resolutions of the Lancasterian Society, at its meeting on the 9th 
of May. 

1 See Mr. Dealtry's examination of Dr. Marsh's inquiry, p. 7. Mr. D. has 
not cited the clause included in brackets ; which, however, is necessary to the 
true exposition of the text. 



THE 



CLERGY 



OF HUNTINGDON. 



155 



to the reception of the Gospel would be found in the 
unwillingness of men to relinquish their sinful habits for 
evangelical holiness. You will not, probably, in this de- 
claration see any thing which bears upon the question. 
Neither is it a legitimate inference, that if the Scriptures 
are not generally intelligible, k< Infinite Wisdom has not 
" furnished us with the most perfect means of instruction." 1 
The fallacy lies in assuming an imperfection in the mode of 
inculcating divine truth through the instrumentality of man: 
yet, perhaps, it will be found, so far as we are capable of 
deciding on such a question, as What are the best means 
which providence can employ for effecting its purposes ? that 
the contrary is the truth. It might, indeed, be sufficient to 
observe that such instrumentality pervades every other part of 
the divine economy in the moral world. Analogy would lead 
us to expect the same in this particular instance : and the 
whole of this proceeding is easily resolvable into God's be- 
nevolence. He appears to have uniformly acted on the 
principle of making us members one of another, and of con- 
necting us by the ties of mutual dependance ; and, perhaps, it 
is in the instruction of the ignorant, and in unfolding to them 
the Volume of Salvation, that the best sympathies of the heart 
are awakened, and that we especially feel, how much " more 
blessed it is to give than to receive," But we may appeal 
to scripture and the history of the primitive church. The 
treasurer of the Ethiopian princess, being a proselyte on his 
return from Jerusalem, appears not to have been more than 
ordinarily incompetent to read the Scriptures ; and yet we are 
told, that to the question, Whether he understood a passage, 
in which Isaiah predicts the sacrifice to be made by the 
Redeemer? he replied, " How can I, unless some man 
" should guide me ?" Our Saviour, too, after his resurrec- 
tion, " expounded in all the Scriptures the things relating to 
" himself." We know, also, from a contemporary Apostle, 

1 Mr. Dealtry, ibid. He has, indeed, farther on, p. 14., reminded the reader, 
that in this country we have an established priesthood and a regular parochial 
service, and that therefore the people are not unassisted in the interpretation of 
Scripture. Is this fact adduced in order to annul, or only to qualify the effect 
of his preceding argument? If to annul it, then was the argument gratuitous; 
if only to qualify it, its force in some degree remains, and it is open to refutation. 
In either case his reasoning is similar to that which we frequently hear from 
persons less capable of stating it with precision, and not at all disposed to object 
to its consequences. 



156 



A CHARGE TO 



that the 8u<rvoij7« of St. Paul, " as well as the other Scrip* 
" tures, may by the unlearned and unstable be wrested to 
" their own destruction." Our Saviour is recorded to have 
given to the world pastors and teachers " for the perfecting 
"of the saints and for the edifying of the body of Christ;" 
and among the gifts imparted to these were " the Word of 
Wisdom and the Word of Knowledge," which were deemed 
important even to inspired teachers. A regular ministry was 
the superstructure, which the apostles raised upon this found- 
ation ; and the homilies of the fathers, which are still pre- 
served to us, consist, in great measure, of expositions of 
Scripture : they felt the difficulties of these writings, and 
they scruple not to avow it 1 ; and it were well, if their prac- 
tice of familiar exposition were more generally retained. — 
It will not be imagined, that this reasoning is at all adverse 
to the great protestant axiom, That the Scriptures contain 
all things necessary to salvation : we are not advocates for 
the glosses and traditions of the Targumists and Talmudists 
of Rome : we pretend not to any exclusive right to the study 
of the Sacred Volume, but profess our warm gratitude to 
learned laymen for many admirable treatises maintaining the 
doctrines, and enforcing the duties, of our common Chris- 
tianity 2 ; in asserting the usefulness of a regular clergy as 
expositors of Scripture, we acknowledge that we are forbidden 
to add unto the Word of God, or to diminish aught from it; 
we are " not to have dominion over the faith " of our flocks : 
we are only to be " helpers of their joy." 

A third topic, which appears to be of importance in form- 
ing a just estimate of the condition of the established church, 
is the present state of toleration. The well-known act was 
passed at a period, when the accession of a foreign prince to 
the throne of England, especially after the bigoted reign of 
James II., made it prudent, as well as just to grant every safe 

1 Scripturae non in legendo consistunt, sed in intelligendo. Hieron. adv. 
Luciferianos sub fin. 

Etiam quae plana videntur in Scripturis, plena sunt qusestionibus. Idem, 
Comment, in Matt. xv. 

2 The memory of Addison, of Lord Lyttleton, of Gilbert West, of Jacob 
Bryant, of Granville Sharp, and of many other laymen, will ever be cherished 
by the clergy of the church of England ; and it is gratifying to be assured, that 
for the " Earnest Exhortation to a frequent reception of the Holy Sacrament," 
we are indebted to a gentleman of high rank in the profession of the law, James 
Allen Park, Esq , king's counsel. 



THE CLERGY OF HUNTINGDON. 



157 



indulgence to non-conformists. The preamble of that act 
sets forth, that " some ease to scrupulous consciences in the 
exercise of religion may be an effectual means to unite their 
majesties' protestant subjects in interest and affection." The 
act, therefore, was plainly intended to strengthen the state ; 
but its modern operation seems to be principally to weaken 
the church. Something, indeed, of this very early appeared ; 
and various attempts were made to pass efficacious bills 
against occasional conformity. Of " scrupulous consciences," 
I should be sorry to speak, otherwise than I feel, without 
profound reverence and awe : but we may surely regret, that 
many, who avowedly have not any scruples, communicate 
with the scrupulous, as if it were merely to thin the ranks of 
the national religion 1 : It is very well known, that a large pro- 
portion of those, who have ceased to communicate with the 
church, profess to receive our creeds, our articles, our whole 
liturgy ; they sometimes assure us, that they are of the church, 
notwithstanding that an apostle has made communion to be 
the only criterion in questions of this kind 2 . It will not, 
however, be urged, that the act of toleration was intended to 
hold out an asylum to seceders of this description : it was 
said by a very learned and liberal judge, Chief Justice Holt, 
within a few years of passing the act, that it was not made 
for professed churchmen, whose consciences allowed them 
sometimes to go to meetings 3 . Yet a difference has been 
remarked between the original and the modern construction 
of the statute, which, as some contend, is now too rigorously 
interpreted 4 . If it be so, some apology may be found in 
the looseness of its language, as well as in the modern abuse 
of it. It proceeded on the supposition that secession implies 

1 In the case of the justices of Derbyshire, it was contended by Morton and 
Blaekstone, that it might be a serious question, how far methodists, not being 
dissenters from the church of England, but only pretending to observe her doc- 
trine and discipline with greater purity than their neighbours, are objects of the 
toleration act, and privileged to meet in conventicles. Burn's Eccl. Law, vol. ii. 
p. 205. ed. 1797. Yet that they avail themselves of the act is admitted in the 
recent case of the King v. Agar. 

2 I John ii. 1 9. " They went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if 
they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us." 

3 Burn's Ecc. Law, vol. ii. p. 201. edit. 1797. 

4 See " A Legal Argument on the Toleration Act, by a Barrister at Law, 
of Lincoln's-Inn, 1812;" and the able " Answer" to it, published since this 
charge was delivered, « by a Barrister of the Temple," Geo. Wharton Marriott, 
Esq. 



158 



A CHARGE TO 



dissent : in the controversies of that day, any other secession 
was rarely heard of: sinful terms of lay-communion were 
admitted to be the only lawful pretext for separation from the 
church ; and very frivolous objections, as the wearing of 
surplices, and the cross in baptism, were thought more decent 
than an acknowledgment, that the separation was altogether 
gratuitous. But whatever may have been the intent or the 
abuse of the act of toleration, the extension of its indulgences, 
and still more the entire abolition of the test, merits the most 
dispassionate consideration, not only of the friends, but of the 
enemies of the establishment. The latter cannot hope, under 
any other ecclesiastical government, for a greater degree of 
religious liberty, than they at present enjoy ; for the ascend- 
ancy of some religious denomination would be the inevitable 
consequence of the overthrow of the church. It may not, 
perhaps, be candid to suppose, that such an event is in their 
contemplation, and that a strict equalization of political ad- 
vantages is contended for with the hope of establishing a 
superiority ; and yet history in some measure countenances 
the suspicion. The Romanists, not the most tolerant of 
religionists, were, in the reign of Charles II., zealous advo- 
cates for a general toleration, evidently with a view to their 
own aggrandisement 1 : and according to the historian and 
apologist of the puritans, even they objected not to an esta- 
blishment, provided it were modelled upon their own princi- 
ples 2 . But whatever be the views or the dangers of others, 
our own course is plain : the few remaining legal checks 
are our only barrier against the renewal of tumult and 
tyranny : they are the only security, which distinguishes our 

1 It was admitted by Colman, the popish emissary, '* Possibly I might be of 
an opinion, that popery might come in, if liberty of conscience had been 
granted." Trial, p. 101. " When the declaration for toleration was published, 
great endeavours were used by the court to persuade the non-conformists to 
make addresses and compliments upon it : but few were so blind, as not to see 
what was aimed at by it." Burnet's Own Times, vol. ii. p. 525. edit. 1725. 

2 " Both parties (the court party, at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, and 
the puritans) agreed too well in asserting the necessity of an uniformity of public 
worship, and of calling in the sword of the magistrate for the support of their 
several principles. The standard of uniformity, according to the bishops, was 
the queen's supremacy and the laws of the land : according to the puritans, the 
decrees of provincial and national synods allowed and enforced by the civil ma- 
gistrate." Neal. vol. i. 147. edit. 1733. 

And in the reign of Charles I. in 1641., says the same writer, the puritans 
" proposed to settle an uniform model of government for the church of England, 
to be confirmed by parliament." vol. ii. p. 468. 



THE CLERGY OF HUNTINGDON. 



159 



condition from that of our ancestors two centuries ago : and 
if we would not recal the days, when the use of a prayer book 
in a private family was punishable by fine and imprisonment, 
we shall not willingly forego them l . 

The last circumstance, to which I would call your attention 
in this brief survey, is the state of religious worship in the 
metropolis. With this, it may be thought, that you have 
little concern ; yet, perhaps, of all the evils which we have to 
deplore, this is the most generally alarming. The want of 
churches is often complained of, but the extent of this mischief 
is not always known. In two parishes, of which the popula- 
tion somewhat exceeds that of this whole archdeaconry, the 
poor are almost altogether excluded from communion with 
the established church 2 : they have little or no accommo- 
dation : the parish churches are so small, as to be suited only 
to ordinary villages ; and the chapels are private property, 
and are appropriated to the convenience of the rich. The 
same evil, in different degrees, exists elsewhere : the conse- 
quence is unavoidable ; that the poor are either driven to the 
conventicle, or they live without the public exercise of religion. 
It is chiefly to be ascribed to this great cause, that the lower 
classes throughout the capital appear to be losing the distin- 
guishing principles of the national faith : the less informed 
do not always perceive what is meant by being of the church 
of England : they annex to the term little more than an 
abhorrence of the corruptions of popery : this feeling happily 
remains unextinguished ; but here they stop : they suppose it 
to be sufficient that they are protestants 3 : they are not aware, 
that it is of much importance what place of protestant worship 
they attend, but they frequent the church or the meeting, or 
both, as their curiosity, or taste or convenience may lead 

1 Blackstone's Comment, vol. iv. p. 53. edit. 1787. 

2 At the late census, the parish of St. Mary-le-bone returned a population of 
more than 75,000 ; and that of St. Pancras 46,333, with an average increase 
(supposed to be much below the present) of 1,400 per ami., during the ten pre- 
ceding years. The parish church will not contain 200 persons. 

3 " Our predecessors in legislation were not so irrational (not to say impious) 
as to form an operose ecclesiastical establishment, and even to render the state 
itself in some degree subservient to it, when their religion, if such it might 
be called, was nothing more than a mere negation of some other, without any 
positive idea either of doctrine, discipline, worship, or morals. The church of 
Scotland knows as little of protestantism undefined, as the church of England 
and Ireland do." Mr. Burke's Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe. Works, 
vol.vi. p. 316 . 318. 



160 



A CHARGE TO 



them. Parochial communion, on which the reformers laid 
so much stress *, is not considered as having any paramount 
claims: Parochial limits are not always known, and when 
known are not always regarded : the offices of baptism and of 
visiting the sick are not unfrequently performed by aliens ; and 
in numerous instances there is reason to fear, that they are alto- 
gether neglected. It were a delusion to imagine, that the influence 
of these evils does not extend beyond their immediate sphere 
of action : the indifference which they produce towards the 
establishment, must sooner or later be felt in the remotest 
corners of the kingdom. 

If such, then, be the present state of our church, it 
becomes us well to consider, what are the means still left us 
of maintaining its stability. It is frequently alleged by 
those, who have withdrawn from us, that if the clergy were 
more zealous in the discharge of their duties, there would 
be no seceders. Many of them may be deeply persuaded of 
the truth of this opinion : there are among them numerous 
instances of sincere piety, of active benevolence, and of steady 
loyalty ; and we have greatly to lament, that the weight of 
their personal example is not given to the cause of Christian 
unity and peace. We know, and we can demonstrate, that 
fervent devotion and holiness of life are attainable, if any 
where, in communion with our church : we might refer to 
living authorities ; we might cite the annals of the dead: and 
it cannot be unknown, that the most bigotted adherents to 
what are usually denominated high-church principles, the 
non-juring clergy and laity, were distinguished by piety, 
some of them so rigid, that in these days it might be deemed 
enthusiasm : the names and the writings of Ken, Kettlewell, 
Dodwell, Nelson, and Law, will immediately recur to your 

1 It is usual with some, who would vindicate their deviation from the practice 
or doctrine of the established church, to appeal to the Reformers. If by the 
reformers be meant the persons, who corrupted the pure doctrines of the English 
reformation by opinions imbibed at Frankfort or Geneva, our church is not 
much interested in defending their orthodoxy. In the year 1548 we find, 
Cranmer visiting his diocese ; and among the articles which related to the laity, 
inquiries were directed to be made concerning " such as contemned their own 
parish church, and went elsewhere." Strype's Cranmer, fol. p. 183. We read 
also in the same historian, " Now that the liberty of the gospel began to be 
allowed, divers false opinions and unsound doctrines began to be vented with it. 
Several of these heretics were convented before Cranmer, Latimer, and others," 
and abjured their errors : among which are enumerated the leading, doctrines of 
calvinists, socinians, and baptists. Strype, p. 178. — 181. 



THE CLERGY OF HUNTINGDON. 



Hi! 



recollection. But it cannot be doubted, that this defence of 
secession is much too unlimited. In what era of the Christian 
church have there not been seceders? In the primitive ages, 
when the bishops and clergy lived the lives of ascetics, and 
died in the cause of Christ, we read of separation ; and 
even in the days of the apostles the work of division had 
begun. In truth, the passions operate on the side of non- 
conformity : the love of liberty finds its gratification in a 
supposed independence of opinion : ambition, lost amidst a 
crowd of competitors, has obtained distinction in a sect; and, 
doubtless, not unfrequently, in the deceitfulness of the heart, 
pride under the aspect of abstraction from the world has 
passed for Christian humility, and vanity, soothed by popular 
applause, has imagined that it was actuated by a zeal for 
God. Notwithstanding this extenuation of the charge, that 
secession is wholly imputable to the negligence of the clergy, 
we are impelled by every motive, which can apply to our 
interest and our endless responsibility, to ask ourselves 
seriously, What is our especial duty at the present crisis ? 

It is consoling to observe, that if we have heretofore been 
chargeable with inattention to the general interests of our 
church, our energies are at length called forth. The venerable 
Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has, within the last 
year, received an accession of strength and activity far greater 
than in any similar preceding period: it has become the 
rallying point of those who would preserve our constitution 
in church and state ; and its deliberations are the most im- 
portant to the maintenance of the true principles of our 
establishment, of any which have been holden since convoca- 
tions fell into disuse. It is, however, needless to pursue this 
topic. Your sense of its high character has been marked 
by your formation of a district committee in connexion with 
the parent institution ; and it is impossible that I should 
suggest any hint for its conduct, which is not comprised in 
its own resolutions. — Next, and scarcely second in import- 
ance, are the means now adopted for training the children 
of the church of England in the principles of the national 
faith. It were exceedingly to be desired, that in every 
market-town, or even considerable village, assistance were 
lent to this great undertaking : without such co-operation, it 
is impossible that the scheme should ever be productive of 

M 



162 



A CHARGE TO 



the benefits proposed : the education of the poor on such a 
plan is necessarily local ; and schools cannot be conducted or 
established, unless by those who reside in the vicinity. 

After all, it must not be dissembled? that the maintenance 
of our church and of true religion, which is involved in the 
issue, will greatly depend on the personal estimation of the 
clergy; and we ought not to imagine, that this estimation 
will altogether be withholden from the conscientious and 
zealous discharge of our duties. It is right that we should 
be informed of the dangers of our situation, and of the 
difficulties which obstruct our career ; but the end should be 
rather to stimulate our exertions, than to induce despair or 
apathy. Our observation must convince us, that there still 
exists among mankind a disposition to reverence the clerical 
character, wherever it is suitably maintained : in truth, this 
feeling is intimately connected with the approbation and love 
of Christianity ; for in no condition of human society is its 
excellence as a rule of faith and manners displayed to greater 
advantage than in the life of a truly Christian pastor. Piety 
fervent, yet untinctured with fanaticism ; zeal regulated by 
discretion; benevolence directed to the instruction of the 
ignorant, the consolation of the afflicted, the allaying of 
animosities, and to the temporal and eternal happiness of 
man ; and, above all, a proof from our consistency, that these 
are not merely official, but are the fruits of our faith in Christ, 
and that we expect to be saved only by the means which we 
prescribe to others, — such are the powers with which we 
still are entrusted, of conciliating the affections of our people: 
and in their effects they will far exceed any abstract disquisi- 
tions on the beauty or the truth of the Gospel. In this age, 
especially, every thing is assuming a practical character : in 
science this may be regretted, as introducing sciolism, and as 
tending to lower the standard and to narrow the range of 
intellectual exertion : but it is not so in religion : this is 
every man's concern; and its ministers cannot propose to 
themselves a higher object of their calling, than to guide the 
feet of the poor and simple into the way of peace. In the 
country, you will permit me to add, from my own experience, 
that the clergy enjoy facilities of usefulness, for which their 
brethren in the metropolis cannot reasonably hope. A village 
pastor knows, and is known to, all his parishioners : he may 



THE CLERGY OF HUNTINGDON. 



163 



ascertain their peculiar wants and weaknesses; he may in- 
terpose his counsel without incurring the painful charge of 
presumption or officiousness ; he is generally equal in rank, 
and superior in education, to all around him ; and his task,, 
for the most part, is the easy one of condescension. These 
advantages we shall not surely suffer to be lost : we shall 
regard them as the precious talent committed to our care, and 
as a sacred trust from that Being, of whose mysteries we are 
the ministers and stewards. We shall thus at least, through 
the Divine assistance, work out our own salvation, and we 
ought not to doubt that we shall become instrumental in the 
hand of Providence to the maintenance of that church, which 
in our nation is the only sure " pillar and ground of the 
truth." Its cause is not lightly to be abandoned 1 : it has 
still the sanction of law, which requires only to be strength- 
ened by that of public opinion : it has still a well-educated 
and a learned clergy, who may accomplish much by activity 
and perseverance: and it has friends, who are anxious to 
plead in its behalf, if we will not supply arguments to their 
opponents by our own secularity or supineness. In itself it 
presents no difficulties to its advocates : it is established 
with a view to Christian edification and the public tranquillity; 
it is tolerant and even liberal towai'ds all who differ from it; 
in its discipline it is apostolical, and its doctrine is of God. 

1 In conclusion, I would suggest to those whom it principally concerns, the 
following sentiment of one who cannot justly be charged with intolerance: 
Quanto magis decet sic affectos esse Christianos, et principes et doctores, ut 
cupiant posteris relinquere ecclesiam recte constitutam et tranquillam. Nec 
verb ullius rei cura potior et antiquior esse magnis viris debet, praesertim iis, 
qui sedent ad gubemacula ; qui utinam in tantis ecclesiae calamitatibus aliquando 
sibi hanc honestissimam vocem subjiciant, avaf}\&pwjj.ev bpQots ofifxairiv, anoSccfiev 
ro?s fTnyiyvofievois THN 'EKKAH2IAN. Melancthon. Ep. 109. lib. 1. 



CHARGE 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

THE SOCIETY 
FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, 

On the 23d March, 1813, 

TO 

THE REV. C. A. JACOBI, 

THEN ABOUT TO PROCEED AS ONE OF THEIR 
MISSIONARIES TO INDIA : 

BY 

T. F. MIDDLETON, D.D. 

ARCHDEACON OE HUNTINGDON. 



M 3 



THE VENERABLE 

SOCIETY 
FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, 

THE FOLLOWING CHARGE, 

DELIVERED BY THEIR APPOINTMENT, AND PUBLISHED AT 
THEIR UNANIMOUS REQUEST, 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
BY 

THEIR MOST OBEDIENT 

AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, 

THE AUTHOR. 



M 4* 



A 

CHARGE, &c. 



REVEREND, 
AND BELOVED IN CHRIST, 

In compliance with the commands of this venerable Society, 
and in conformity with an usage suggested by feelings of 
brotherly affection and of Christian zeal, I am to address you 
on the interesting relation which you have contracted with 
us, and on the momentous duties to which it has given birth. 
The performance of such a task in the presence of persons 
pre-eminent in our nation for their knowledge and their 
piety, might impress the most presumptuous with a sense of 
his own insufficiency ; yet such is the occasion of this day's 
solemnity, that it can hardly fail to awaken the most torpid 
to congenial feeling and reflection. The character in which 
you stand before us, it is impossible to contemplate with in- 
difference : as a stranger, you are entitled to our courtesy ; 
as a Christian, to our benevolence ; as a scholar, to our 
respect ; but you have higher pretensions than these : we 
regard you as invested with the functions of an apostle ; you 
are known to us, as one animated with the desire of extending 
the light of the blessed Gospel to those, who still sit in 
darkness and in the shadow of death : with this view, you 
have renounced the ties of kindred and of country, and 
prospects highly flattering to youthful ambition ; you are 
ready to encounter the perils of the ocean, and the danger of 
disease in a foreign clime; you are prepared to contend 
against the sophistry of the subtle and the malice of the 
wicked ; and you have solicited our assistance in the prose- 
cution of your holy purpose, seeking only food and raiment, 
and resolving to be therewith content. With such preten- 
sions you prefer your claim to our reverence and admiration ; 
and I doubt not that I faithfully express the sentiment of 



170 



A CHARGE TO 



this august assembly, when I declare, that, in the bosom of 
every individual, the magnitude of your undertaking and the 
sanctity of your character are most honourably appreciated 
and deeply felt. 

The remote region, which you have selected as the theatre 
of your exertions, does indeed loudly call for the labours of 
pious and disinterested men. Amidst all the darkness, which 
still envelopes the Heathen world, the superstitions of Hin- 
dustan are calculated to excite in the mind of the philosopher, 
as well as of the Christian, in a peculiar degree, emotions of 
pity and horror. Very far removed from a state of barbarism, 
retaining even the vestiges of ancient science and refinement, 
gifted with faculties, which culture might elevate to the 
proudest eminence of intellectual attainment, mild in their 
nature and humane in their deportment, the Hindus present 
the most lamentable spectacle of religious depravation, and 
serve to demonstrate how weak and wretched is human 
nature in its most favoured circumstances, unblessed with a 
knowledge of the true God and of His reasonable service. 
You are doubtless well acquainted with the horrid rites of 
the religion of Brahma : you know the practice of exposing 
infants, or offering them to the Ganges : you are not ignorant 
that the widow, perhaps in the prime of life, places herself on 
the funeral pile of her deceased lord, or, according to the 
superstition of a particular caste, is buried alive with him : 
you have read of the awful scenes at Juggernaut, where the 
country for miles around exhibits the bones of voluntary 
victims slain beneath the wheels of the car of an idol 1 ; and 
you have contemplated with disgust the variety of tortures 
which the deluded devotee inflicts on himself, in order to 
merit the favour of his gods. What practices more repugnant 
to natural feeling and unperverted reason have the annals of 
the most savage superstition brought to light ? What more 
atrocious enormities have obtained among the most ignorant 
and ferocious islanders, on whom the light of science never 
beamed, and whose faculties are little elevated above the 
instinct of the brute creation ? It should seem, indeed, not 
only that the natural powers of the human mind, however 
cultivated, are incapable, without a Divine Revelation, of 

1 Buchanan's Christian Researches, p. 19, &e. 



THE REV. C. A. JACOBI. 



171 



attaining to a knowledge of the will of God, but that the 
progress of refinement, unaccompanied with instruction in the 
ways of the Almighty, serves only to lead man further from 
the simplicity of Divine truth : it should seem, that in the 
absence of the True Light, science serves only to multiply the 
delusions, on which he is ever ready to rest his hopes : 
primeval traditions become gradually more and more dis- 
torted by the perverseness of human ingenuity ; and the wild 
conjectures of the philosophy of paganism are embellished 
and consecrated in the verse of its poets. 

To dissipate the darkness of the Heathen world, — to in- 
struct mankind in the ways and in the will of God, — and to 
unfold to them the mysteries of redemption, — our Saviour 
pronounced to His chosen followers the memorable injunc- 
tion, " Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
" name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
" Ghost." In furtherance of this end, the apostles were endued 
with miraculous powers : yet even they were not taught to 
expect that their path would be smooth, or that their courage 
and constancy would not be subjected to severe trials. In 
an undertaking similar to theirs, you are now to engage ; you 
cannot, however, hope, though we doubt not that in such a 
work God will be with you, that the same assistance which 
was vouchsafed to the apostles, will be also extended to you ; 
while you may reasonably apprehend, that in the difficulties 
which you will have to encounter, you will more closely 
tread in their steps. Were I at once to proceed to the 
brighter and more animating part of your prospect, without 
urging you to prepare and fortify your mind against inevitable 
discouragements, I should ill discharge my duty, whilst I 
might seem to derogate from the strength of your holy reso- 
lution. 

It must be admitted, that the progress of Christianity in 
India has not been such as might have been expected, con- 
sidering at how early a period the name of Christ was carried 
to its shores. Whether Pantsenus in the second century 
proceeded to India, or went no farther than the happy 
Arabia 1 , it is certain that the peninsula possessed a know- 
ledge of Christ early in the fourth century : no doubt is 



1 Mosheim^ vol. i. p. 149. 



A CHARGE TO 



entertained, that Frumentius, the apostle of Abyssinia, became 
an Indian bishop 1 : it stands upon record, that the primate 
of India was present and subscribed his name to the proceed- 
ings of the council of Nice 2 : and the Mohammedan writers 
admit, that Christianity prevailed in India, before the intro- 
duction of Islamism. 3 From that period, however, it de- 
clined ; and though it was never extinct, having been pre- 
served, if no where else, at least in the Syrian churches 4 , 
little appears to have been attempted for its diffusion, till the 
time when the Portuguese extended their commerce to the 
East. But the genius of Popery has never been favourable 
to the legitimate propagation of the Gospel. To do evil, 
that good may come, is -a. dangerous violation of Christian 
morality, and vainly seeks its apology in the extent and 
benevolence of its views : but the missionaries of Rome, 
while they have employed corrupt means, have not always 
proposed the purest ends. Not only have they had recourse 
to false signs and lying wonders 5 , not only have they pre- 
tended to miraculous gifts, and in some instances have im- 
posed themselves on their converts in the acceptable cha- 
racter of Brahmins 6 ; but even the object sought by these 
artifices has been something very distinguishable from the 
disinterested promulgation of the Gospel. The power and 
the pomp of the see of Rome have evidently been their aim : 
the number of professing converts has been regarded, rather 
than the soundness of their faith or the purity of their prac- 
tice : baptism has been administered to those who would 
receive it, without fully understanding its sacred obligations ; 
and the splendour of ceremonies 7 has for the moment at- 
tracted proselytes, who could not easily be reconciled to the 
scandal of the Cross, and the worship of God in spirit and 
in truth. It is asserted by St. Francis Xavier, that he 
baptized upwards of a million of infidels 8 : of which pre- 
tended conversion, however, very small remains are now 
visible. Neither was the conduct of the missionaries of Rome 

1 Sozomen. Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. cap. 24. 

a Asiat. Researches, vol. x. p. 70. 3 Ibid. p. 79. 

4 The extraordinary inattention shown to the Syrian Christians has called 
forth a censure from Gibbon. Hist. vol. viii. p. 349. 

5 Bishop Douglas's Criterion, p. 72. 6 Mosheim, vol. v. p. 11. 
" Society's Report for 1776, p. 81. 

5 Tennant's Thoughts on India, pp. 172. and 230. 



THE REV. C. A. JACOBI. 



173 



towards their fellow-Christians at all calculated to illustrate 
the benevolent character of the Gospel : one of their first 
acts was to violate the freedom and to vitiate the purity of 
the primitive and happy Syro-Indian Church 1 ; and the 
establishment of the Inquisition at Goa in all its horrors still 
remains to stigmatize the Christian name. But if the church 
of Rome, from its spirit and the tendency of its proceedings, 
was little adapted to the diffusion of Christianity, we should 
also consider how inadequate have been the efforts of Pro- 
testants. Little more than a century has now elapsed since 
the commencement of the Danish mission to Tranquebar, and 
its subsequent connexion with our Society. Of the labours 
of that mission, of the piety, the zeal, and the learning of the 
persons, who have generally composed it, the records are in 
our hands. Their numbers, however, when we consider with 
what difficulties they have contended, have been insufficient 
to produce any very extensive effect. They have frequently 
complained, and not always, it is feared, without reason, that 
the lives of the bulk of European Christians have counter- 
acted and in great measure defeated the most zealous labours 
of the mission. 2 They have found it of no avail to show 
that the precepts of Christ inculcate whatever is holy and 
good, while the practice of Christians has been marked by a 
more than heathen contempt of religious obligations. To as 
little purpose was it to urge, that the persons, whose examples 
were thus pernicious, were placed in circumstances unfavour- 
able to Christian faith and morals ; that they had left their 
native country, before their religious habits and convictions 
had been fully established ; that they were early introduced 
into all the dissipations of an enervating climate ; that thev 
had sometimes no other view than the rapid accumulation of 
wealth ; and that even if their habits had originally been 
those of regularity and piety, they had little means of con- 
firming and preserving them in a country, where their na- 
tional religion has often no visible representative, and where 
the Christian Sabbath is distinguishable only by the appear- 

1 See the preface to Danish Conferences, 17 1 9. 

2 " Who knows," says the excellent Swartz, " but God may remove some 
of the great obstacles to the propagation of the Gospel ? Should a reformation 
take place among the Europeans, it would no doubt be the greatest blessing to 
the country." — Swartz's Apology, Society's Report, 1795. 



174 



A CHARGE TO 



ance of the British flag. 1 Enlightened candour might know 
how to make allowance for these disadvantages; but we could 
not expect it in the Mohammedan or Hindu, when those 
among ourselves, who alone have power to remedy the evil, 
have not yet thought it of sufficient magnitude to demand 
their interference. 2 

But it is not merely in the neglected and depressed state 
of public worship among the European Christians of India, 
that you will encounter obstacles to the success of your en- 
deavours. You will find the Hindu possessed with inveterate 
prejudices in behalf of his own superstition : he will tell you 
of its remote and inscrutable antiquity, of the mystic sanctity 
attached to his sacred books, and of the austerity and excru- 
ciating penances of fakirs and devotees : you will find him 
imputing a high degree of merit to self-immolation and other 
practices which Christianity forbids : the appalling spectacles 
and thrilling rites of his own faith have deeply impressed his 
imagination ; and to the almost total want of Christian ob- 
servances he will naturally oppose the powerful associations, 
which his mind derives from the celebration of a hundred 
festivals in the year. 3 

Perhaps, however, the most formidable impediment to the 
favourable issue of your undertaking, will be found in the 
consequences which follow upon conversion. The loss 
of caste is among the most alarming punishments which 
social ordinances have ever devised. To be interdicted from 
the ordinary intercourse of life ; to be regarded as unclean 
and abominable in the sight of his nearest relatives ; to be 
supposed to communicate pollution by the mere touch 4 ; and 
to be cut off from all the resources of honest industry 5 ; such 
is the condition of the Christianized Hindu with respect to 
his countrymen ; and unhappily he finds but insufficient 
encouragement in the new society by which he is adopted. 
It has rarely been the policy of our Indian government to 
patronise converts 6 ; and the Christian societies, which have 

1 Buchanan's Memoir on an Ecclesiastical Establishment in India, p. 4. 
- Since this was written, the question of the expediency of an ecclesiastical 
establishment for India has been agitated in parliament. 

3 Buchanan's Memoir, p. 51. 4 Crawford's Sketches, vol. i. p. 124. 

5 Society's Report for 1776, p. 87. 

6 Buchanan's Christian Researches, p. 89. It is otherwise in Ceylon : the 
Dutch, while in possession of that island, never gave an official appointment to 



THE REV. C. A. JACOBI. 



1?5 



hitherto been formed, are scarcely in a condition to compen- 
sate such sacrifices, or to furnish abundant employment. 

Causes, such as these, have, notwithstanding the length of 
time during which the Gospel has been known in India, 
retarded and circumscribed its progress ; and it must 
be admitted, that if no countervailing sources of encourage- 
ment presented themselves, you might feel that you were 
engaging in an almost fruitless task : but these, I trust, are 
by no means wanting ; and by the blessing of God they will 
be sufficient to stimulate and reward your exertions in His 
holy cause. 

Permit me, then, to call your attention to the interesting 
fact, that, notwithstanding every discouragement, the Word 
of God is found to prevail, and the number of native Chris- 
tians in India is observed to increase: a recent estimate makes 
them amount to 900,000 persons 1 ; and what perhaps is more 
to our present purpose, the immediate fruits of that mission, 
with which you are associated, are becoming more apparent. 
Some years have elapsed since our Society was presented with 
the sermon of an ordained convert from Hinduism 2 : we hope 
that other equally honourable specimens of the sound Christian 
knowledge, the simple eloquence, and the genuine piety attain- 
able by Hindus, will be laid before us ; and we have learnt with 
satisfaction that four other Tamul catechists have lately been 
called to the ministry in the presence of the aged Sattianaden. 3 
It is from the labours of ordained converts, that we expect 
the most favourable results ; and the paucity of such as have 
been altogether fit to receive ordination might have been 
numbered among the impediments to the wider diffusion of 
the Gospel. For the use of such it is gratifying to be in 3 
formed, that Tamul books, explaining the elements of Chris- 
tian knowledge, abound. They are the instruments by which, 
under the guidance of God, His holy faith will find its way 
to the hearts of the heathens ; and an interesting memoir, 
just received, assures us, that the natives have lately shown 
a more than ordinary readiness to be instructed. We know 



any native who was not a Christian ; which practice is continued by His Ma- 
jesty's government. Ibid. 

1 Martyn's Christian India. 

2 See the Sermon of Sattianaden, published by the Society in 1 792. 

3 Society's Report for 1812, p. 183. 



1?G 



A CHARGE TO 



from the respectable missionary, Dr. John, that his schools 
are crowded by children of both sexes, who are eager to 
receive the rudiments of useful learning: the » prejudices of 
their parents, with regard to religion, are, indeed, still awake ; 
but to the removal even of these the introduction of European 
knowledge is a most important step. Neither do these pre- 
judices appear to operate against all our sacred books : the 
Psalms especially are learnt with avidity and repeated with 
delight. 1 

A further circumstance, which will probably lead to the 
happiest consequences, is the progress which has lately been 
made in Hindu literature. There are two distinct views, 
in which the benefit * presents itself to our observation: it 
promises to furnish us with the means of proving to the un- 
converted Hindu how widely his practice differs from the 
precepts even of his own religion ; and it will enable us to 
show him how much of the genuine doctrines of his religion 
is but a corruption of Divine truth as contained in the volume 
of the Christian Scriptures. With regard to the former of 
these points, it is now well known, that the enormities prac- 
tised by the Hindus are wholly unauthorised, or but faintly 
countenanced, in their sacred writings : of which, however, a 
profound ignorance has generally prevailed. If of the four 
great castes only one is admitted to the reading of the Vedas, 
and another is permitted only to hear them read, while the 
other two, by far the most numerous, may have only the 
sastras or commentary read to them 2 , it cannot be matter of 
just surprise, ever had the fountain been more pure, that the 
stream should have been exceedingly corrupted in its pro- 
gress. But in truth even the Brahmins themselves seem not 
generally to have known the real doctrines of their religion, 
except from tradition ; and it is a singular fact, that their 
reluctance to communicate the contents of their sacred books 
had never been overcome till within these few years. We 
are told, that the Emperor Akbar 3 , in the plenitude of his 
power, could not obtain what is now freely granted to the 
curiosity of every British enquirer. Let us hope, that this 
surprising change of sentiment is destined to some important 

1 Dr. John's letter, lately published by Messrs. Rivington. 

2 Crawford's Sketches, vol. i. p. 129. 

3 Butler's Horse Biblica?, vol. ii. p. 167. 



THE REV. C. A. JACOB1. 



177 



purpose. The advocate for Christianity will now be able to 
lay open the weakness of the Hindu superstition by shewing 
that its most exceptionable practices have not even the sanc- 
tion of its own founders ; that they are merely acts of will- 
worship ; that they have originated in ignorance and error ; 
and that they are utterly irreconcilable with that purer 
morality and those sublime conceptions of the Deity, which 
it cannot be denied that the Vedas occasionally develope. — 
But it is not the negative argument alone, which the Christian 
missionary is now enabled to employ : he will further ob- 
serve, that much of what is really inculcated in the Hindu 
sacred books, bears a strong though disfigured resemblance to 
the leading doctrines of the Gospel. For some time it has 
been known that their most ancient writings maintain the 
unity of God in Three Persons ; and various incarnations of 
these persons, especially of Vishnu Or the second in the Triad, 
are believed to have taken place ; but more recent inquiries 
have brought to light further and very important particulars 
respecting this subject. It appears that the expectation of 
some mighty deliverer prevailed long before the coming of 
Christ even among the Hindus. We are told, that in the 
Puranas, the earth complains of her being ready to sink be- 
neath the accumulated iniquities of mankind; while Vishnu 
comforts her, promising to put an end to the-tyranny of the 
demons : that for this purpose he would be incarnated ; and 
the followers of Buddha unanimously declare, that this in- 
carnation in the womb of a virgin, was predicted at least a 
thousand years before it came to pass. ] The Hindus main- 
tain, that these prophecies were fulfilled in the person of 
Crishna, in like manner as many of the Samaritans, to elude 
the prophecies respecting Christ, explained them of Joshua. 2 
It may reasonably be hoped, that as the genuine doctrines 
and traditions of Hinduism shall be more fully ascertained, 
they will furnish positive and direct arguments, by which the 
Hindus may be brought to know the only true God, and 
Jesus, whom he hath sent. 

Neither should you despair that the great stumbling-block 
in the way of conversion, the irregular lives of many of our own 
countrymen in the East, even if it still exist, may be speedily 



* Asiat. Researches, vol. x. p. 27. 

N 



- Ibid. p. 34, 



178 



A CHARGE TO 



removed. Already, indeed, if we may trust to the evidence 
of persons who have recently returned from India, the man- 
ners and conduct of our countrymen in that quarter have un- 
dergone considerable improvement : and such a result was to 
be expected from the provision now made for the education 
of the youth destined to fill important stations in the service 
of the government. The cause of religion is, it is true, still 
unsupported by public authority ; but even for this radical 
defect the remedy, we trust, is at hand ; the attention of the 
legislature having lately been called, in a manner which can 
scarcely be ineffectual to the establishment of an English 
episcopal church in India. Without it, indeed, the labours of 
missionaries cannot operate on a very extended scale ; and 
the want of it is so urgent that it cannot, consistently with 
our Christian character or national honour, be much longer 
deferred. The church of Rome has her ecclesiastical esta- 
blishment in various parts of India, and even in one of our 
own presidencies. 1 Her influence, however, is said to be on. 
the decline : the funds of the propagandists were destroyed 
by the French devastations in Italy 2 ; and we are assured that 
genuine Christianity is now more acceptable to the natives, 
than the spurious and corrupted doctrines of Rome. The 
Mohammedans still form a considerable part of the population 
of Hindostan : the Moslem conquerors did not fail to establish 
their religion wherever they consolidated their power; but 
their power in India is completely extinguished by the subju- 
gation of the Mysore. The Hindoo Rajahs of Tanjore, 
though they never have been converted, have evinced a more 
than tolerant spirit towards the members of our mission. 
Several years have now elapsed since one of them appropri- 
ated a yearly revenue to the support of the Christian mission- 
aries within his dominions 8 ; and the homage more recently 
' paid by the Rajah to the venerable Schwartz, when, at the fune- 
ral of that apostolic man, he wept over the bier of him whom 
he denominated his father and his friend, demonstrates that 
in the sight of even prejudice itself, "beautiful are the feet of 
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings 
of good things." Of these propitious circumstances whether 

1 Bombay. See Buchanan's Memoirs, p. 5. 
* Tennant's Thoughts on India, p. 208, 
5 Society's Report for 1788. 



FHE REV. C. A. JACOB!. 



179 



or not our Christian country shall take immediate advantage, 
by establishing the church of England in the East, they will 
not at least be lost upon you. Whatever be the difficulties 
which you may have to surmount, you will at least reflect 
that they are inconsiderable, compared with those which your 
early predecessors in the same career cheerfully encountered, 
and in great measure overcame. When they first visited the 
shores of India, the name and office of the protestant mission- 
ary were as yet unknown ; he was viewed with suspicion ra- 
ther than welcomed with confidence ; his Romanist rivals 
were active in prejudicing the natives against him 1 ; there 
was not a single printing-press in that quarter of India ; and 
the Scriptures were as yet wholly untranslated into the Ta- 
mul tongne : but the labours and learning of Ziegenbalg, 
snatched away as he was in the flower of his age, produced 
the Tamul Bible ; and happily for the interests of the Chris- 
tian cause, his companions and successors in the mission have, 
for the most part, been men of the same unwearied zeal and 
examplary deportment. With the labours of Ziegenbalg those 
of Plutscho and Grundler are still associated in tradition ; the 
virtues of Schwartz and Gericke are still had in affectionate re- 
membrance ; and we trust, that by the blessing of God, the 
name of Jacobi may not be forgotten by those who shall 
hereafter trace the progress of the Gospel in Southern India. 

That your pious purpose may be fully accomplished, and 
that your labours of love may be rewarded with abundant 
fruits, permit me in conclusion to offer you a few suggestions, 
which your future experience will correct or improve, but 
which, in the interval, it may not be wholly useless to re- 
volve in your mind. It is obvious that your enterprise will 
require you to pursue a course of study, in which it cannot 
be expected that you should yet have made any great ad- 
vances. The field of knowledge which the East throws open 
to an ardent and excursive mind, is so delightful, that care 
must be taken to restrain curiosity within the bounds of use- 
fulness. Without the languages of the country in which you 
shall reside, you would be but as a barbarian unto the people, 
and they barbarians unto you. These languages are princi- 
pally the Tamul and the Portuguese : many other dialects 



c Niecampii Hist/ Missionis, p. 106, 
N 2 



180 



A CHARGE TO 



are partially spoken ; but you will perhaps find it useful, 
without loss of time, to direct your attention to these, and 
even to make them in some degree vernacular, before you 
shall attempt other languages, if you shall attempt them at 
all. You will consider, that it is not merely in preaching to 
the natives what you shall have premeditated that your use- 
fulness will consist, you will find it necessary to converse 
with them familiarly on every subject which may present it- 
self; to enter into their sentiments, feelings* associations, and 
prejudices; and to be altogether such as they are, except only 
in their ignorance, their superstitions, and their vices; but 
this cannot be attained by a knowledge merely of words and 
phrases suited to a topic which we ourselves have chosen, but 
it supposes us to be able to think, as it were, in their lan- 
guage, if it be possible for foreigners to attain so nearly to 
perfection. Every idiom, perhaps, if we accurately examine 
it, is distinguished as much by the peculiar turn of sentiment 
to which it is accommodated, as it is by its grammatical struc- 
ture ; and this remark is true more especially of the Oriental 
tongues, the images and combinations of which have had their 
origin in habits of life and modes of thinking so widely dif- 
fering from our own. Your other studies will probably be 
such as are immediately or collaterally connected with the 
objects of your mission. You will endeavour to acquire an 
intimate acquaintance with the prevailing tenets of Hinduism, 
with the arguments by which they are defended, and with the 
reasoning by which they may be refuted. You will cultivate 
those branches of knowledge which you find to be popular 
and likely to recommend you to the natives. You will diligently 
review the records of the mission and the labours of your 
forerunners, considering well to what causes their success has 
been chiefly attributable, and to what their failure, and re- 
solving to profit by their experience whilst you emulate the 
bright example of their virtues. Above all, you will make 
the Sacred Volume your meditation by day and by night ; 
both as it will enable you to establish Divine truth in the 
hearts of your hearers, and (which is indispensable to that 
great end) to preserve it pure and vigorous in your own. 

To knowledge and learning you will add discretion. You 
are doubtless animated with the noblest zeal for the salvation 
of souls : I would not damp the sacred fire which is kindled 



THE REV. C. A. JACOBI. 



181 



in your bosom by the Blessed Spirit : I trust it will be ex- 
tinguished only with your latest breath. Let your zeal, how- 
ever, be so regulated that it fail not of its object : attend to 
times and seasons and opportunities : a degree of jealousy, 
fatal to your views, might be excited by your imprudent inter- 
ference with an inveterate superstition. But it is not merely in 
officiousness and temerity that zeal may err : it appears in a 
still more reprehensible form when it has ceased to be in- 
genuous. Beware then of holding out delusive representations 
to those who may be disposed to listen to you : avoid every 
thing which may be construed into a subterfuge or suppression 
of the truth : inculcate the doctrine of a crucified as well as 
pf a glorified Redeemer : exhibit the Man of Sorrows in his 
meekness and lowliness : point out the necessity of an offering 
for sin ; and let your endeavour be less to make a multitude 
of pretended proselytes, than that they, who shall profess the 
faith of Christ, shall profess it in truth and sincerity. It is 
admitted, I think, by all who have preceded you, that your 
hopes of making genuine converts must rest, in great measure, 
upon the instruction and education of youth. In this depart- 
ment much has been done to lessen your labour by a distin- 
guished member of our society, who has greatly improved 
the method, which he brought from Madras, by giving it a 
more systematic arrangement and a more extensive appli- 
cation. You will not fail to avail yourself of this powerful 
aid : in conveying the elements of European knowledge, you 
will insensibly prepare the way to the adoption of our religi- 
ous tenets ; and these you will avowedly and strenuously in- 
culcate, wherever it can be done without violating your good 
faith with the parents of the children committed to your care. 

Finally, let me remind you, that under the guidance of 
the Blessed Spirit you must ultimately rely for your success 
on those Christian graces which are the proper fruits of the 
Spirit ; they must live in your life, and breathe in all your 
actions : humility, patience, kindness, devotion, charity, and 
peace are the virtues of the Christian apostle ; by these you 
will adorn and recommend the doctrine of God your Saviour. 
That the Almighty may accord to you these assistances, and; 
whatever else may further the work to which He hath visibly 
called you, that He may make you the instrument of good to 
thousands, and through those whom you shall instruct, bring 

n 3 



182 



A CHARGE TO 



tens of thousands from the power of Satan unto Himself, is 
our most fervent prayer. We shall take a lively interest in 
all your proceedings : we shall be thankful to God for all 
your successes : we shall rejoice in your joy. For the pre- 
sent, accept this our cordial greeting and farewell ; and may 
the God of love and peace be with you evermore. 1 

1 To this charge Mr. Jacobi made the following reply : — 

The indulgence of this respectable meeting will, I trust, lend a patient ear to 
the accent of a foreigner, who deeply regrets his not being able to speak well the 
language of a nation for which he has the highest esteem. It is a long time since 
a meeting of this venerable society has been held on an occasion like the present, 
and I feel a peculiar pleasure in beholding such a number of venerable and re- 
spected characters now assembled for the purpose of again sending a missionary 
into a field where labourers indeed are wanting ; and it is to be pitied, that it has 
been hitherto impossible to supply this want more plentifully. The reason of 
this lies not so much in the interrupted intercourse with the continent, as in the 
actual want of proper subjects for such stations. The pestilence of French prin- 
ciples, unbelief, confusion, and wisdom falsely so called, has also infected the 
German universities ; and even with the better part of the students it has such an 
influence, as to make their spirits ill disposed to forsake all earthly pursuits, and to 
sacrifice every thing for the cause of true Christianity. The Society for promoting 
Christian Knowledge, and especially its excellent German agent, the celebrated Dr. 
Knapp, in Halle, has therefore used the utmost caution in the selection of mis- 
sionaries ; acting on the principle, that it is better to send none at all than bad 
subjects. Owing to the above-mentioned bad principles, and the distressed situ- 
ation of my unfortunate country, the missionary spirit has much subsided, so that 
even on a proclamation of one of the most learned and eminent men to the stu- 
dents of divinity in all German universities, to offer themselves for the East India 
mission, not one appeared. 

I think myself indeed highly favoured to be the first, after so long a time, who 
is sent out by this venerable society, whose missionaries, with Schwartz and Gericke 
at their head, have experienced peculiar blessings of the Lord in seeing their la- 
bours crowned with such abundant success, that it may be said of the Society for 
promoting Christian Knowledge, their missionaries have done more than those of 
all the other societies together. And yet this society is far from coveting the 
applause of men, but chooses rather to be known hereafter by its fruits, than to 
be praised by the present generation for great things yet to be undertaken. There 
is no doubt but it must be both an honour and a blessing to labour under the 
protection of such a society. 

T think it now my duty to give some account of my life, together with the 
motives that induced me to deliver myself, with body and soul, up to this parti- 
cular work of God. 

When a boy of seven years my father, one of the most learned and pious mi- 
nisters of the church of Saxony, telling me something about this country, said, 
u Behold, God has certainly yet great designs with England, and it is a mighty 
instrument in His hands to establish His kingdom on earth." He then telling 
me of the missions, I felt so deeply touched that I cried out, « Father, I will 
one day go to England, from thence to be sent out among the Gentiles ;" and 
from that time all my thoughts were filled with this design. Childish as this 
might appear, my father kept these words in his heart ; and when I afterwards 
had been four years at the college, and the hour of his death approached, he wrote 
me, that I might tell him, before he died, what my resolution about my future 
slate of life was. I answered, that I was determined, if it pleased the Lord, to 
follow what I thought my calling to the mission. I was then sixteen years of 
age. My father, answering to this, exhorted me to look carefully on the ways of 
God with me, not to presume to guide my own fate ; but as he had no objection 



THE REV. C. A. JACOB!. 



183 



to my determination, ho wished me tho blessing of God to it. Alas ! this was 
his last letter; the last words of which were, " May the Lord finish his work." 
He soon after died, and thus took my promise to be a missionary with him before 
the heavenly throne. 

When eighteen years of age I left college for the university at Leipsic, where I 
studied two years upon my own fortune. Here many temptations assaulted me 
from all quarters : the allurements of sensual pleasure were easily overcome ; but 
a more formidable enemy, the modern Divinity (if I may so term it), had very 
nigh caused my foot to slip in the path of faith. The lectures of the professors 
represented the Bible as a mere human book : in a word, infidelity was recom- 
mended, and preached from the pulpit designed for the preaching of faith. I had 
a hard contest, but it pleased God to establish my heart again, and to open my 
eyes more fully upon the wonders of his word. I then burnt all my manuscripts 
of the new method of divinity, and visited these lectures no more : I retired, and 
gave myself entirely to private study. Another temptation then arose to make 
me an apostate to the Lutheran church ; but after having closely examined the 
doctrines of the party that wanted to make me a proselyte, I thanked God that I 
had not left my church ; and I am very happy to understand that the church of 
England considers the Lutheran church as a faithful sister. By the particular 
providence of God I became acquainted with the Rev. Dr. Knapp, who invited 
me, by letter, to come to him, and to finish my studies in Halle. I accordingly 
left Leipsic, and Dr. Knapp showed me the kindness to take me into his own 
house. This last year in Halle every thing seemed to conspire to deter me from 
my design to become a missionary ; many lucrative livings were offered to me in 
Saxony, Austria, and Russia ; my own friends and relations began to urge me 
to accept such comfortable situations ; they represented my intention to go on a 
mission as fantastical, and my reliance on God in this point as a chimera. At 
last it had the appearance, on account of the present war, as if my hope should 
never be realized, and my enemies, and those that scoffed at me, began already to 
triumph, when all at once, and unexpectedly, I received the call of this blessed 
society; and from the very moment I accepted it, till the present, the Lord has 
been with me in a peculiar manner in so many respects, that I clearly see it is 
His good pleasure, and firmly trust in Him that I shall safely arrive at the place 
of my destination in India. 

Before I conclude, I beg the venerable and respected society kindly to accept 
my most hearty thanks for the kind reception I have met with, the attention 
shown to me, the care which has been taken to make my sojourning here, as well 
as my passage over the ocean comfortable. May the Lord reward the society for 
all this, by guiding me safely to my destination, by sending down His Spirit upon 
me, that I may be enabled soon to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation in Christ 
Jesus unto those that sit in darkness and under the shadow of death ; and cause 
them to bless a society that thus took pity upon the poor benighted Gentiles. Yea, 
there are already crowns of thousands of saints, once Gentiles, prepared for those 
happy members of this society that have gone asleep in the Lord ! and may I be 
privileged to prepare a crown for those that now send me off, and accompany me 
with their prayers ! I promise to prove a faithful servant in the cause of the 
mission, to continue instant in praying for the grace of my Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, to adorn His doctrine by my whole life and conversation, to endea- 
vour to have always a good conscience both towards God and men. I depart 
with the prayer, that the Lord may vouchsafe to look down with his pleasure upon 
this venerable society, and to cause the same to remain for ever blessing and for 
ever blest. > 



N 4 



A 

CHARGE 



DELIVERED TO 



THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE 

OF 

CALCUTTA, 

AT 

Calcutta the 1th December 1815, at Madras the lltk January, 
and at Bombay the 1 3th June 1816; 

AT 

THE PRIMARY VISITATION, 
By T. F. MIDDLETON, D. D. F. R. S. 

LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



'Ei rwv wp' rj/xas 7€\oiu](»v irepiyzvtffOai (xt) SwcfyicSa, ir&s rb ffofiapbv intTvo 

FsiRUs Antiochenus Oruntis Patrjarcha, apud 
Cotelerii Mon* Eccl. Greece vol. ii. p. 157. 



TO 

THE REVEREND 

THE CLERGY 

OF 

THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED IN BRITISH INDIA, 

THE FOLLOWING CHARGE 
IS, WITH GREAT REGARD, INSCRIBED, 

BY THEIR AFFECTIONATE 

FRIEND AND BROTHER, 



T. F. CALCUTTA, 



Bombay, 
24th June, 1816. 



A 

CHARGE, &c. 



My reverend brethren, 

The occasion of your being now assembled is not unim- 
portant in the annals of the Christian Faith. The day has 
at length arrived, when the purest and most powerful of 
protestant churches is completely established in a vast region 
of Asia ; her clergy, hitherto a small number of detached 
individuals, acting without concert, and not subject to any 
local superintendence, are henceforward members of a com- 
pacted body, and united under the regimen, which every 
where prevailed in the primitive ages of the Gospel : from 
the first planting of Christian churches by the preaching of the 
apostles, till we reach the period of modern innovation or 
neglect, wherever there were Christians, there were clergy to 
instruct them ; and wherever there were clergy, a bishop was 
placed among them, to advise, to encourage, to admonish, to 
preserve unity of faith and worship, and to perpetuate a holy 
priesthood. It is superfluous to inquire to what causes we 
should impute, in the present instance, the delay of a measure 
so consonant with Christian practice and of such obvious 
utility : our immediate concern will be rather to consider, 
now that the deficiency no longer subsists, in what way we 
may give effect to the important purposes, which the legisla- 
ture contemplated, when it made provision for an episcopal 
establishment in British India. 

I am fully aware, that in proceeding to the consideration 
of these points, I am entering upon a subject of no common 
difficulty : I am deeply sensible of the difference, which sub- 
sists between the condition of Christianity in these regions, 
and the order and stability, which it has long attained in 
England : I am ready to admit, that the duties of the clergy 



190 



A CHARGE TO 



are here to be performed in circumstances somewhat peculiar ; 
that the public feeling is to be considered and conciliated ; 
and that the suggestions of Christian prudence no where re- 
quire to be observed with stricter care : but the inferences, 
which arise from this state of things, must be drawn with 
discrimination, or they will lead to consequences, which in- 
stead of removing our difficulties, could only tend to increase 
them. You are not to infer, where an object is definite, and 
legitimate, and accompanied, as we cannot doubt, with God's 
blessing, that impediments, however formidable in the outset, 
can in their nature be permanent : it would be wrong to 
infer, that schemes of improvement are not to be prosecuted 
with ardour, because hitherto they have been scarcely thought 
of, or under every disadvantage have failed; and admitting 
the existence of difficulties to the utmost extent, I will venture 
to remind you, that the just conclusion is the necessity of a 
ready and conscientious co-operation under one head; upon 
whom, after all, (and I feel it to be no light responsibility,) 
the blame of failure must principally rest. And when we 
recollect, that those who have been most forward to allege 
the peculiar circumstances of this country as arguments 
against improvement, have usually been persons not remark- 
able for their attachment to the Christian cause, 1 trust that 
the last to insist upon impediments, and to shelter themselves 
behind anomalies, will be the English clergy. We have no 
natural impediments to contend against, but the manners and 
habits incidental to an enervating climate : and yet there is 
no region on the earth, where the religion of Jesus, if due 
care be taken to plant and to water it, will not flourish. The 
most dissipated city of the East became one of the earliest and 
most distinguished seats of the Gospel. We know that " the 
disciples were called Christians first at Antioch ;" 1 and that 
a branch of the church of Antioch has subsisted for cen- 
turies, under every discouragement, amidst the mountains of 
Malabar. 

An unavoidable delay in the promulgation, by the supreme 
government, of His Majesty letters patent, has induced me 
to postpone, for so long a period, the exercise of certain 
powers vested in the bishop, and especially the very important 

1 Acts xi. 26. 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



191 



measure of licensing my clergy. The new system, however, 
is now in full force ; and I am enabled to inform you, in what 
light you are henceforward to consider yourselves, as well as 
to afford you a sketch of some particular obligations. 

I wish that I could announce to you, that you were in all 
respects placed upon the footing of parochial incumbents ; 
that each of you was to have his parish church, to which he 
was to be regularly instituted and inducted, and that he was 
to be assisted in the superintendence of his flock by church- 
wardens and overseers, as the parochial clergy are in England. 
In time, no doubt, beneficial changes will be gradually intro- 
duced : for the present, however, you are required to make 
the best of the circumstances in which you are actually 
placed ; and they are such as to justify the expectation of 
your discharging the duties of clergymen with a high degree 
of usefulness and effect. You are many of you still, by the 
nature of your duties, military chaplains ; but by no means 
subject to all the inconveniences, which the name seems to 
imply. You are placed completely and exclusively under 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction : you have fixed and permanent 
stations, to which you are henceforward to be nominated by 
myself; and your correspondence on all ecclesiastical matters 
will be carried on with myself or my archdeacons : the rules 
prescribed for the regulation of your conduct will be precisely 
the same, except where local circumstances render it imprac- 
ticable, with those which subsist at home : my letters patent 
direct me to administer the ecclesiastical laws, as they are 
received in the realm of England : and they evidently contem- 
plate no other discipline, than that under which our church has 
been favoured with such manifestations of the divine blessing, 
and still continues, notwithstanding the cavils of bigoted or 
ignorant men, to be the great depositary of scriptural know- 
ledge and sacred truth, and, under Christ, the main support 
of Christian piety throughout the world. 

It is needless, I trust, in any circumstances, to employ 
much time in reminding Clergymen of the obligations which 
they contracted, when they solemnly devoted themselves to 
their holy calling ; to bring to their recollection, that they 
promised, by the help of God, to " give faithful diligence 
always so to minister the doctrine and sacraments, and the 
discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this 



192 



A CHARGE TO 



church and realm hath received the same :" 1 and that " in 
the public worship of God they will use the form prescribed in 
the Book of Common Prayer, and none other :" 2 an engage- 
ment, which precludes addition, and omission, and every 
alteration whatever. And yet, perhaps, in the peculiar cir- 
cumstances attending the situation of the clergy in this 
country, one great danger, to which they have been exposed, 
has been that of falling into habitual neglect of canonical 
regularity : some practices of this kind have, in truth, come 
to my knowledge, of which, in the reliance that they will not 
be persisted in, I would much rather suggest the excuse, than 
pronounce the censure. I am ready to admit, that the clergy 
have hitherto been placed in a condition by no means favour- 
able to the correct and regular performance of their duties. 
It is doubtless a high advantage enjoyed by your brethren in 
England, that their attention is so frequently drawn to every 
topic connected with their profession. Episcopal and archi- 
diaconal visitations afford the means of instruction and advicej 
as well as of a ready and frequent intercourse among the 
clergy of the same district : the example of an incumbent of 
revered character and approved judgment silently yet power- 
fully operates on his younger brethren, who are placed in 
his immediate neighbourhood : and occasionally, the penalties 
inflicted on the grosser derelictions of duty, and sometimes 
even on the omission of forms, will not suffer any to fall into 
a general inattention to subjects of this nature. In the utter 
absence of these helps and restraints, it cannot be matter of 
surprise, if uncanonical practices have sometimes been ad* 
mitted ; especially in a country, where the laity themselves, 
little conversant with such subjects, have not exacted from 
the clergy the same attention to established order, which is 
generally expected at home. These considerations seem to 
demand, especially at this our first meeting, that I should 
somewhat enlarge upon the topic of discipline. 

The age in which we live, is not generally chargeable with 
any want of zeal in behalf of religion. The value of 
Christianity is felt and acknowledged by the great mass of 
Christians; and very praiseworthy efforts are made for its 
diffusion. Much, however, of this zeal is destitute of regu- 



' Ordination of priests. 2 36th Canon. 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



193 



lation, or is directed only by the private views and notions of 
those, by whom it is cherished ; and while those notions are 
so discordant, and are sometimes inculcated with so little 
regard to any recognised authority, it is to be expected, that 
the obligation to order in religious proceedings should be little 
attended to, and, in consequence, not generally understood : 
there seems even to be a prejudice against it, as if it were in- 
jurious to zeal, by having a tendency to cramp its exertions 
and to narrow the range of piety. It may be supposed, that 
an order of men, who have voluntarily adopted the sober 
views of the church of England, and who know the grounds 
on which her discipline is established, and have had experi- 
ence of its use and necessity, will be little liable, on such a 
subject, to be affected by the fluctuating opinions of the day ; 
and yet, perhaps, it is too much to hope, that any of us, espe- 
cially in such circumstances, should be wholly exempt from 
the influence of prevailing sentiment: human nature is too 
weak to adhere invariably and inflexibly to principles, which, 
however solemnly adopted and powerfully established, are yet 
disparaged in the public estimation, and not always observed 
in practice. I would remind you, then, that the order and 
discipline of our church are an integral part of its constitution, 
considering it as an instrument in the hands of God for the 
maintenance and diffusion of truth. The inculcation of sound 
doctrine is perceived by the most superficial, to be the highest 
object and aim of religious instruction ; but it is not always 
remembered, that sound teaching can be maintained only by 
salutary discipline; and that the unity of truth must be pre- 
served by a reference to some particular interpretation of 
Scripture. Neither can provision be generally made for the 
maintenance of religion, but through the aid of an ecclesiastical 
polity ; not necessarily, indeed, enjoying the sanction and pro- 
tection of the state, but sufficiently strong to maintain and 
enforce its regulations against opposition: which, however, 
in the present condition of society, is scarcely supposable to 
any great extent, without the assistance of the temporal 
power. And such appears to be the actual constitution of 
the church of England. Its government and discipline ori- 
ginally emanate from higher authority than any human 
enactments, or the power of princes ; even from the word of 
God, and the promises of Christ, and the practice of his 

o 



194 



A CHARGE TO 



apostles: its liturgy and its articles, though of human com- 
position, are yet interpretations of Scripture by persons, to 
whom was committed the ministry of the word: and the 
rubric, which it has framed to preserve a decency and pro- 
priety of worship, and the canons, by which it has provided 
for its government, are the results of piety and experience 
applied to these particular subjects : the part which the state 
has taken in these proceedings, has been only to adopt and 
to sanction them, and to secure to the clergy, who teach in 
conformity with such principles, the emoluments, which a 
Christian state will appropriate to the maintenance of the 
Gospel, together with certain immunities and honours, to 
uphold them in the eyes of the world. 

If this statement, then, be just, nothing can be more un- 
founded than any prejudice against the order and discipline 
of our church, as tending to interfere with a salutary zeal ; I 
mean, supposing such prejudice to subsist among many of its 
members. With respect to others, the case is more intelli- 
gible, though it hardly deserves our notice : it is natural for 
those, who have no idea of sacred truth beyond the narrow 
views of the sect or party, with which they happen to be 
connected, to cherish a hope, that if the established interpret- 
ation of scripture were divested of authority, and order and 
system could be brought into disrepute, their opinions would 
meet with less opposition : but with such we have at present 
no concern. For us it is sufficient to be convinced, that all 
the undoubted verities of Scripture are maintained and in- 
culcated by our church ; that it furnishes the most ample 
means of grace, and well-founded hopes of glory ; that its 
rites are primitive, and decent, and edifying; and that it 
imposes no restraints on zeal, but such as are necessary to 
order and peace, and to the maintenance of that establishment, 
under which the purposes of genuine piety are most easily at- 
tainable : and if any occasional inconvenience seems to result 
from the operation of the rules, which it has prescribed, it 
will be right to consider, though I cannot imagine a case, in 
which the inconvenience can be shewn, that in this, as in 
ether instances, particular must give way to general good. 

But in considering the unreasonableness of the prejudices 
against ecclesiastical discipline, it were unjust to rest its de- 
fence upon abstract principles, or even upon the constitution 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



195 



of the church of England. The primitive church, if we may 
rely upon the records of its earliest proceedings, was not 
more remarkable for the zeal and intrepidity of its preachers, 
than for their strict conformity to order, and their care to in- 
culcate respect for discipline on the minds of their converts. 
To imagine that the first Christians bore any resemblance to 
the wild fanatics, who act as if it were a mark of piety to 
" despise dominion and to speak evil of dignities," 1 would 
indicate an utter ignorance of the history of our religion. It 
is well known, that the order and discipline, the foundation 
of which had been laid by the apostles, was a subject of un- 
remitted attention in their immediate successors. Not only 
is this apparent from the writings of the apostolical fathers, 
but still more so, if possible, from the history of the 
early councils, and the care to provide for every emergency 
in the government of the rising church. Many of the canons 
decreed at these councils refer to doctrine, and scarcely 
fewer to discipline : and though it is admitted, that the work 
which has come down to us, under the name of " apostolical 
canons," did not actually proceed from the apostles, it has 
been shewn to be of an antiquity little posterior to the 
apostolic age, and in the judgment of Bishop Beveridge has 
merited the appellation of " the Code of the Primitive 
Church." 2 The truth appears to be, that the zeal of the 
early Christians went hand in hand with order and submission 
to authority ; and whatever may be alleged of the influence 
and splendour, which the church acquired by the conversion 
of Constantine, it is certain that the jurisdiction of the 
hierarchy had been fully recognised from the earliest times ; 
and that the great body of Christians evinced a conscientious 
obedience to laws enforced under no other penalty than that 
of spiritual excommunication, and deriving no support from 
the state. 

It is difficult, however, to speak or to think on the present 
subject, in this quarter of the globe, without connecting it in 
some degree with the possible extension of the Gospel. We 
are aware, indeed, that this is a topic from the mere mention 
of which some persons shrink with alarm: and unquestionably, 
if we could be supposed to cherish the thought of propagating 



1 JudeS. 



* Vide Cotelerii Patres Apoatolicos, vel.i. p« 432. 
o 2 



196 



A CHARGE TO 



religion by force, not only ought the subject to be proscribed 
by common consent, but the idea should be rejected with 
horror. We bless God, however, that persecution on ac- 
count of religion is alike abhorrent from the faith of Pro- 
testants and the temper of the times : the only armour of 
an offensive kind in the Christian panoply is " the sword of 
" the Spirit, which is the word of God." 1 But if, in the 
general dissemination of knowledge, the excellence of Chris- 
tianity should be more fully displayed; — if a faithful and 
affectionate exhibition of the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus, 
should impress the minds of some, who cannot discover either 
the grounds of their present faith, or the reasonableness of 
their worship ; — ■ or if a strict attention to divine ordinances 
and to Christian duties among ourselves should produce the 
effects, which so abundantly followed it in the early stages of 
the Gospel, and should bring in willing converts to Christ, I 
know not that " any man can forbid water, that these should 
not be baptized." 2 And the prophetic word enjoins us to 
look to such an event, though it has not defined the precise 
mode or the time of its accomplishment. In this view, then, 
the church in India may be only in its infant state : it may 
be destined to receive gradual yet continual accessions of 
strength ; and it may ultimately, in the unseen methods of 
Providence, be made the means of dispensing knowledge and 
consolation to the descendants of millions, who are yet with- 
out its pale: " the kingdom of God," as we are assured, cometh 
not with observation" 3 or " outward shew. 4 With reference, 
therefore, to such a consummation, however remote, the 
attention will be naturally directed to the church establish- 
ment, as the centre from which the whole body of converts 
must derive its unity and consistency. In every supposable 
state of society, except in a temporary coalition of adverse 
and discordant prejudices, where the object is political power, 
the religion which is established by authority, will maintain 
its just preponderance : and that preponderance, in the pre- 
sent case, while it will be seen to be in favour of a discipline 
derived from the primitive ages, and having therefore the 
sanction of antiquity, would also be found to be most con- 
genial with the habits and the character of the people. It may, 

' Ephes. vi. 17. 2 Acts x. 47. 3 Luke xvii, 20, 4 Marginal reading. 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



therefore, be reasonably expected, that the government of the 
future church, whatever be its extent, should be that which 
was in force at the time of its foundation ; or in other words, 
should be episcopal : that the decent and dignified order of 
our establishment should be the model, which Christian con- 
gregations would adopt ; and that from whatever quarter the 
tidings of the Gospel may first have come, and however im- 
perfectly or partially conveyed, all diversity of practice or 
opinion should gradually subside in the doctrine and the 
discipline of the church. A small society of Christians, may, 
indeed, be formed upon almost any of the various schemes 
which caprice may suggest ; and such societies may be pre- 
served from dissolution, so long as an establishment diverts 
the jealousy of rival sects : but nothing which has any re- 
semblance to independency is adapted to the maintenance of 
religion amongst a numerous people, and least of all perhaps, 
when we consider their peculiar character amongst the nations 
of the East. Abstract theories of religious liberty would be 
hardly intelligible, where no real or supposed right was felt 
to be infringed : and the unbiassed judgment would declare 
for Christianty in that form, in which the fullest provision 
should be made for piety, and order, and peace. 

In offering you, however, these remarks, I am duly mindful 
that I am not addressing missionaries, but the stationary 
ministers of an established church. I might, indeed by re- 
verting to an act of the legislature in the reign of King 
William, recognise the two characters in union : it was then 
enjoined, that " such ministers, as should be sent to reside 
in India, should apply themselves to learn the native lan- 
guage of the country, the better to enable them to instruct 
the Gentoos, who should be servants of the company or of 
their agents in the Protestant religion : 1 and among the 
missionary proceedings of the present day I have met with 
none, which have been conducted with a happier combination 
of zeal and judgment, than one of your own body has dis- 
played* 2 It were perhaps to be wished, for various reasons, 
that missionary efforts had been exerted principally in the 
same channel : it should seem to be easier to add converts to 
an established congregation, than to form one where none 

' Charter of the East India Company, A. D. 1698. 
2 The Rev. Mr. Corrie, of Agra. 

O 3 



198 



A CHARGE TO 



existed : and on the ground of unity the advantage is so 
manifest, that it were needless to insist on it. But this 
system seems to have been only partially aeted upon ; and 
though, I believe, it has not been formally abolished, a very 
different one has grown up in its place. My object, however, 
in this part of my address to you, has been, not so much to 
revive it, especially as you have more immediate and peculiar 
duties, as to enforce an attention to discipline, with reference 
to an eventual extension of Christianity, by whatever means 
and whenever it may be accomplished. Every consideration, 
which can be urged in behalf of our national church, 
clearly supposes it to be well administered, and that the 
clergy, each in his station, be observed to discharge their 
allotted duties with regularity and regard to system. We 
otherwise become unconnected individuals, and cannot pos- 
sess in the public estimation any advantage arising from our 
peculiar fitness to form a general standard. Even with a view 
to our making converts by the mere force of example, the 
effect of such regularity can hardly fail to be felt. In the 
early ages, unbelievers, in endeavouring to account for the 
rapid progress of the Gospel, laid great stress on the regu- 
larity and order of the clergy ; and Sozomen 1 has preserved 
to us a remarkable letter of Julian the apostate to the high 
priest of Galatia, in which he urges the priest to engraft on 
paganism the laws and usages, by the observance of which 
the Christian clergy had been so successful. But in the 
lowest view of the subject, and supposing that in the plan of 
providence other means should be chiefly effectual in dis- 
seminating the truth, if the doctrines of our church are ulti- 
mately to be received as the preferable interpretation of scrip- 
ture, they must be diligently and consistently inculcated ; and 
if her discipline is to be the model, it must be exhibited in all 
its strength. This is our proper Vantage-ground : and if we 
are verily persuaded, that the purest principles of the Chris- 
tian faith are those which we are pledged to maintain, and 
that our church is really built on the foundations of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
corner-stone, we shall not abandon our ground by remissness* 
by irregularity, or by specious attempts_at accommodation. 



Hist. Eecks. lib. v. c. 16. 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



199 



In the course of my connexion with you, if providence 
should spare my life, I shall endeavour to keep in view the 
general principles here laid down, and apply them to circum- 
stances, as these may arise. For the present, under this 
head, I will content myself with urging you to a strict con- 
formity with the rubric and the canons of our church : they 
have the same force in India that they have in England : and 
they are equally to be observed, wherever they are not plainly 
inapplicable: of which I shall be enabled to judge. Your 
dress, minute as the subject may seem, is by no means to be 
disregarded ; and I am not aware that even the climate can 
require us to divest ourselves of any of the external marks of 
our profession : where, indeed, the clergy are so few, it is 
more especially necessary, that they should be distinguishable j 
and should maintain respect. The same remark will apply 
to every feature of your deportment and conversation : and 
in truth, whenever I consider these points, I am convinced, 
that the responsibility which attaches to your situation, is 
even, if possible, fgreater than that which belongs to incum- 
bents in England. The ministers of the Gospel are every 
where ordained to be lights in the world ; but here, in a 
world of thick darkness: and if any of you hide is light, there 
is no one at hand to supply his place, or to keep alive the 
sacred fire of divine truth in a region of wide extent ; the 
charge is committed to a single individual, on whose fidelity 
and vigilance every thing must depend. Under the same 
head of admonition, I would remind you of the propriety, 
wherever there are churches, of using them in the performance 
of such offices, as the rubric does not authorise in any other 
place. The practice which has been admitted in some in- 
stances, of performing the marriage service at all hours of 
the day, and in private houses, even where a church is within 
a convenient distance, I cannot sanction or allow : and even 
where there is no church, the decency and solemnity, which 
have prescribed certain hours for the purpose are quite as 
deserving of regard in this country as in any part of the 
world. So likewise in the administration of the office of 
baptism, the attendance of sponsors is to be required in the 
manner which the rubric directs : it is a salutary institution, 
both with respect to the provision, which it makes, for bring- 
ing up children in the nurture of the Lord, and as it tends to 

o 4 



200 



A CHARGE TO 



connect individuals, who are not joined by any necessary tie, 
in the bonds of Christian love. There are, probably, other 
topics of this kind, which may deserve notice : but what has 
been said will, I trust, be sufficient to convey my notions 
generally, as well as to shew the stress, which I lay on the 
specified particulars. 

I will conclude the present head with observing, that the 
subject of discipline to a certain degree, involves the laity as 
well as the clergy ; who, though they are not compellable to 
act in defiance of their obligations, and at the hazard of cen- 
sure, will be naturally anxious to conciliate their flocks, and 
to gain them over to a cheerful compliance with order and 
propriety, if these in any instance have usually been violated. 
What, then, is the course which you will pursue ? Evidently, 
I think, you will endeavour to explain the reasons and the 
fitness which have guided our church in all her proceedings : 
it may sometimes be requisite to do this from the pulpit: and 
I am persuaded that a temperate and discreet appeal to good 
sense and good principle, will never be made in vain. In 
your sermons the prevailing topics will be the grand truths 
of the everlasting Gospel : the method and the terms of 
human salvation : the natural weakness and insufficiency 
of man, unassisted by the blessing of God ; — the alarm- 
ing consequences of irreligion and indifference ; — the obli- 
gation to adorn and recommend the doctrine of God our 
Saviour ; — and in short, whatever has a tendency to give 
not only to your hearers, but to those " who are without V* 
" access through Christ by one spirit unto the Father." 2 
But while you are advocates for the doctrines of Christianity 
and for holiness of life, I should not think it expedient to 
inculcate them in such a manner, as indirectly to countenance 
the neglect of any established ordinance : at home, such con- 
duct would be highly prejudicial, and in this country it would 
be fatal, to the interests of the cause in which you have 
engaged. With respect to our own people, there can be but 
little danger, for the present, of their attributing too much to 
rites and forms in religion, where many of them for years 
together have never seen a clergyman : and with reference to 
the surrounding nations, visible ordinances are the only 
proofs that we entertain a reverence for God : nor can you 



t Col. iv. 5. 



2 Ephes. ii. IS. 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



201 



require to be told, that it is to the too frequent absence of 
such ordinances, that we are to impute much of the prejudice, 
which subsists in this country against the Christian name. 
It appears to me, therefore, that you will but imperfectly 
discharge your duty, if you do not occasionally insist upon 
externals ; not as superseding, or at all interfering with, the 
sanctity of the heart and the affections, and the worship 
of God in spirit and in truth, but as means conducing to an 
end, and without which in ordinary cases that end would not 
be attained. 

From subjects connected with the general discipline and 
good order of our establishment, it is time that I should pro- 
ceed to topics more immediately of a practical character, as 
relating to your ordinary duties : and these I cannot plaee in 
any point of view more interesting or more useful, than by 
bringing them into as near approximation as possible to the 
duties of parochial clergy. The model which I would pro- 
pose to you, is that of the English parish priest ; — the 
guardian of morals, — the instructor of youth, — the com- 
forter of the afflicted, — the promoter and director of 
works of charity and love — and the guide of all, who are 
entrusted to his charge, in the way of peace : and I antici- 
pate every objection arising from the different state of society 
and the circumstances of the country, in the reply, that this 
is still the standard, to which you should endeavour to make 
all difficulties gradually yield : as a general rule of conduct I 
cannot offer you any, which is so likely to carry you to the 
object, which I must suppose you to have in view, the religious 
and moral improvement of the people committed to your 
care. Without denying, that there are difficulties, arising 
in some measure from the fluctuating state of society, in some 
instances from a long disuse of religious habits and associ- 
ations, and generally from your not possessing that prescrip- 
tive influence which attaches to the clergy, wherever they are 
numerous and have been long regarded as an order of the 
community ; admitting these difficulties, I am still of opinion 
that you will not want encouragement in your endeavours to 
establish a pastoral influence, especially if it be attempted by 
your taking the lead in plans of benevolence and usefulness, 
which cannot any where originate so properly as with your- 
selves. That they should proceed from the laity, while a 



A CHARGE TO 



clergyman is actually on the spot, is scarcely to be expected, 
however it may be desired ; and from every thing which I 
can learn, your lot can hardly be cast, where you will not 
find a considerable portion of Christian zeal to co-operate 
with you in any laudable design. The habit of thinking, 
and still more of acting according to your views, may not, 
indeed, be already formed ; but if the principle be in exist- 
ence, you will only have to appeal to it, and to lead it to its 
proper object. These remarks, however, suppose you to be 
animated with a sincere desire of doing good : they suppose 
you to be attentive to the spiritual and temporal wants of 
your people ; to be vigilant observers of every thing, which 
is amiss ; and in short, to have your hearts in the work of 
your holy calling. And in truth, I can hardly imagine, in 
what manner clergymen, especially in situations remote from 
the presidencies, can pass their time, except in pursuits 
relating to their appointment. In every part of the world, a 
kind Providence has connected our happiness with our duty; 
but in no condition is the remark more just, than with respect 
to clergymen in India. Here I cannot suppose any medium 
between habitual attention to duty, and habits of indolence 
and voluptuousness. In England the case is different : there 
the clergy are induced to employ their leisure, and some- 
times perhaps more than their leisure, from their proper 
duties, in various pursuits more or less honourable and 
useful, and worthy of active minds : they engage in the 
labours and cares of the magistracy ; or they cultivate their 
own glebe : or literature has attractions which are here un- 
known : and happily for the country, the education of the 
youth of the higher and middle classes of the community, is 
almost exclusively in their hands. From all such engage- 
ments you are necessarily precluded ; and this circumstance 
justifies the supposition, that here you can have no other 
pursuits, than the duties and the studies of your profession. 

Among the objects, then, which fall under the head of 
duties, I would recommend to your particular attention the 
state of the military : who, indeed, in some instances consti- 
tute nearly the whole of your flocks. There cannot be a 
class of persons more in need of pastoral superintendence, 
and of instruction in the truths of our religion : too fre- 
quently, it is to be presumed, that the common soldiers were 
brought up in habits of profligacy, and still more frequently, 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



203 



that whatever of good they learnt in their childhood, has 
been lost from long disuse. You cannot, then, be engaged 
in a more Christian object, than in seeking to reclaim them ; 
in awakening them to a sense of their danger : in urging them 
to receive instruction ; in visiting them in their sickness ; and 
in dispensing to them the consolations of our holy faith. 
And scarcely, if at all, less valuable, will be your labours in the 
conduct of regimental schools: in which agreeably to the design 
of His Royal Highness the Duke of York, the principles of 
the Church of England are to be inculcated on the plan of 
the National Society. 1 It is not to be expected that the 
masters of such schools should be always sufficiently ac- 
quainted with the system, to carry it on with the fullest effect; 
and in no case can it be supposed, that the superintendence 
of a resident clergyman, who interests himself in the good 
order and the religious improvement of the children, can be 
unavailing or superfluous. In the furtherance of these objects, 
and I will add, of almost every object, which I can imagine 
you to have at heart, I rejoice that you will henceforward be 
furnished with most effectual assistance. By the blessing of 
God, a diocesan and two district committees are already esta- 
blished, of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge • 
a society, which has been honourably known in India in one 
of its departments for more than a century, and will now I 
trust, be actively employed in disseminating Christian know- 
ledge in the East among our own countrymen. The atten- 
tion of the committees will especially be turned to the con- 
dition of the European soldiery in barracks and cantonments, 
and in short, wherever vice or ignorance is found to subsist 
among the British in India. I consider the want of such an 
institution to have been hitherto a great impediment to the 
success of your labours. Of bibles, notwithstanding the ex- 
ertions of another society, there is not, I believe, any redun- 
dancy; prayer-books are exceedingly scarce: elementary 
tracts, such as you could properly use, have but rarely found 
their way to this country ; approved books for the use of 
schools appear to be in great demand ; expositions of the 
church catechism are not commonly met with ; and instruc- 
tions for those who are to be confirmed, may be imagined to 



| 1 General Orders, 1st. Jan. 1812. 



204 



A CHARGE TO 



be little known; but these, and in short every thing which 
can be useful in aid of pastoral instruction, will now be easily 
procurable. Of these committees, all the clergy, I believe, 
who have heard of their formation, are already members ; and 
I should be negligent of my duty, if I did not suggest to 
you the propriety of recommending them to notice among all 
who value Christian knowledge, and who would promote it 
amongst their brethren in a foreign lan$. 

To the subject of your studies, it might seem superfluous 
to advert : and yet with reference even to this particular, I 
cannot forbear to offer you one or two suggestions. The 
Christian clergy in the primitive ages were placed in circum- 
stances not essentially different from your own : they were 
often the pastors of very small flocks surrounded by Pagans, 
with whom they were obliged to have frequent intercourse, 
and towards whom to observe the greatest circumspection : 
and many of the earlier canons and constitutions were framed 
expressly with a view to this state of things. You cannot 
suppose me to ascribe to them any authority, where they have 
not been adopted by our church ; but as they were the dic- 
tates of primitive piety and of practical experience in situations 
often analogous to your own, I cannot but be of opinion that 
the study of them, as well as of the manners and habits of 
the first Christians, and especially of the clergy, may be re- 
commended as an appropriate employment of your leisure. 
The Christian Antiquities of Bingham will alone supersede a 
multitude of volumes relating to the subject in question : as 
comprising a vast collection of facts respecting the early 
history of our religion, and calculated, on many accounts, to 
afford you valuable hints for the regulation of your conduct. 
Another study, which I would particularly recommend to you, 
is that of the evidences of Christianity. The flimsy scepti- 
cism, which prevailed in England some years since, among 
those who knew little of religion, except from cavils and ob- 
jections, is, I have reason to apprehend, not wholly unknown 
in India : and it is possible that even a learned divine, whose 
studies have proceeded upon a conviction long since esta- 
blished, that the Gospel came from God, may not be always 
prepared to convince the gainsayer, or to meet a fallacy with 
all the force of truth. But it is not, perhaps, to the mis- 
chievous zeal of Deists in Europe, that we should ascribe all 

8 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



205 



the scepticism, the symptoms of which may be detected in 
India. There are circumstances attending a long residence 
in this country, which without any extrinsic aid must operate 
against a clear and decided belief of revelation. The total 
disuse of public worship, not unfrequently occasioned by ne- 
cessity, might of itself be thought sufficient to create indif- 
ference : but when persons, who see little or nothing of their 
own religion, are almost daily spectators of the rites of super- 
stition; — when they are told that it has descended with all 
its usages from the most remote antiquity ; — when they ob- 
serve that millions appear to believe in it, and rigidly adhere 
to its injunctions, and that these are generally regular in their 
lives and peaceable in their deportment ; — when extravagant 
commendation is given to passages in their sacred books, as 
conveying no unworthy notions of the Creator ; and when the 
mind is called to witness the various ways, in which men do 
homage to the Supreme Being ; — in such circumstances, it 
certainly requires a deeper acquaintance with the true state 
of the question than is usually to be expected, to be proof 
against inferences which are formed almost imperceptibly, and 
which, we know, have sometimes led to opinions avowedly 
hostile to the exclusive claims of the Gospel. It is not con- 
sidered, that antiquity is not even presumptive evidence of 
truth, besides that it is not peculiar to one mode of faith ; — 
that millions may be kept in error, where knowledge is pre- 
scribed and forbidden ; — that the peace of human societies 
is by no means the only, or the ultimate object of true re- 
ligion, and that morals are not merely something negative, 
but are a positive and active compliance with the authenti- 
cated will of God ; — that sublime conceptions of the Deity 
are attainable without inspiration, and that when they are 
blended with the absurd fancies of a disgusting mythology, 
it may well be suspected, that both have not been derived 
from a common source ; — and that after all, the evidences 
of Christianity are peculiarly its own : I allude not merely to 
prophecies, nor to miracles, nor to the character and doctrines 
of Christ, nor to the moral effect produced on his apostles by 
His resurrection and by the Descent of the Holy Spirit : I 
mean that it is an historical religion : the history of the whole 
dispensation is before us, from the creation of the world to 
the present hour : and it is, throughout, consistent with itself 



£06 



A CHARGE TO 



and with the attributes of God ; gradually developing one 
vast design through a progression of ages, which makes it 
impossible that our faith can have been fabricated by the 
collusion of many, or by the artifice of a single impostor. Of 
its two competitors, the one has no history to produce, but in 
the place of it refers us to inscrutable antiquity ; while of the 
other, all that can be told, lies within a narrow compass, and 
furnishes its best refutation. 

You will not then be surprised that I recommend to your 
particular attention the study of the evidences of our faith. 
The writings of Grotius, of Stillingfleet, of Leslie:, of 
Lardner, and of Paley, contain, probably, the substance of 
all which has been written on the subject : you will, of course, 
store your memory with those reasonings especially which are 
most applicable to the circumstances ; and it is not impossible 
that you may sometimes be led by local considerations to 
pursue very profitably, and to extend reflections on which 
those great writers were not required to dwell. These stu- 
dies will be well rewarded if they enable you to reclaim one 
gainsay er, or in a single instance, to relieve the anxiety of in- 
genuous doubt; and this you may hope, with the blessing of 
God, will be the usual result. The evidences of Christianity 
are so various in their kind, so peculiar in their character, 
and so independent of each other, that, considering them 
merely as a combination of moral probabilities, they lead to a 
conclusion little short of mathematical certainty, and of which 
the parallel cannot be produced in behalf of any falsehood 
which has ever been imposed upon mankind. 

I have detained you at this our first meeting somewhat 
longer, probably, than can ever be requisite hereafter; and 
yet I am aware that many important topics may still remain 
untouched. It is to be supposed, that in so vast a charge I 
am yet only commencing my inquiries ; and in order to facil- 
itate them, and to ascertain the precise points which especially 
demand my notice, I have directed that a circular letter should 
be sent to all of my clergy, desiring distinct answers to the 
several questions proposed, as the only method of becoming 
at once, in some degree, acquainted with the condition of a 
diocese, to the actual visitation of every part of which, within 
the compass of two or three years, no ordinary strength is 
equal. The result of these our joint endeavours, I trust, will 



THE CLERGY OF CALCUTTA. 



207 



be the establishment of Christian order and piety wherever 
the principles of our faith are professed through the British 
empire in the East. Your numbers, indeed, are at present 
inadequate to the spiritual wants of the people ; and I regret 
that in a country, where the professors of other modes of 
worship offer a visible homage to their Maker in the proudest 
monuments of native art, our Christian edifices are rarely 
such as to mark our zeal in the service of God, and are much 
fewer than the clergy. Still, however, you are required to 
make the best use of your present means ; and so soon as I 
shall be enabled, from a full acquaintance with the state of 
my diocese, to represent its wants, it cannot be doubted that a 
Christian government will readily attend to the first of its 
Christian duties. 

I now, my reverend brethren, dismiss you with my fervent 
prayer, that the succours of the Holy Spirit may be abun- 
dantly vouchsafed to all of us ; that we may be actuated by 
a patient zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of human 
souls ; and that we may each of us, in his allotted station, 
hourly and habitually remember the account which we must 
one day give at the judgment-seat of Christ. In the various 
allotments of human duty, by which Providence is pleased to 
make trial of man's obedience and love in this probationary 
state, I can hardly imagine any condition in which fidelity or 
neglect leads to consequences more momentous in time and in 
eternity. In that awful day, when these consequences shall 
attach to each of us, may we severally be invited to enter into 
the joy of our Lord. 



TWO CHARGES 



DELIVERED TO 

THE CLERGY IN THE DIOCESE OF 
CALCUTTA : 

THE FORMER 

At Calcutta and Madras in February and March 1819, and at 
Bombay and Colombo in March and April 1821 ; 

AND THE LATTER 

At Calcutta in December 1821. 
By T. F. MIDDLETON, D. D. F. R. S. 

BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



V 

TO 

THE VENERABLE THE ARCHDEACONS, 

AIJD 

THE REVEREND THE CHAPLAINS, 

IN THE 

DIOCESE OF CALCUTTA, 

THE FOLLOWING CHARGES 
ARE INSCRIBED 

BY THEIR AFFECTIONATE BROTHER 
AND SERVANT, 

T.F. CALCUTTA. 



1* 2 



A CHARGE 

DELIVERED TO 

THE CLERGY 

AT 

CALCUTTA, MADRAS, BOMBAY, AND COLOMBO, 
In 1819 and 1821. 



My reverend brethren^ 

Notwithstanding that our attention may be presumed to 
be given, in a pre-eminent degree, to the immediate concerns 
of our calling, we cannot, as men of ordinary reflection, or 
even as observers of the ways of Providence, be wholly un- 
moved by the events passing in the world ; especially in that 
part of it which the Almighty has been pleased to allot as the 
scene of our duties : we are required, indeed, in connection 
with those duties to discern, if possible, " the signs of the 
times a knowledge of which is not more important to the 
statesman or politician, than it is to the faithful and zealous 
servant of Jesus Christ. I cannot therefore have any scruple 
in the opening of this address, to remind you of the extended, 
if not new relation in which our country has been recently 
placed with respect to the nations of India. To the wisdom 
and energy by which British supremacy has been established 
over one of the fairest portions of Asia, or even to the en- 
lightened and benevolent views which have illustrated the 
career of success, no tribute can here be paid but in the way 
of transient allusion ; and it is, indeed, upon other grounds 
that I would turn your reflections to the subject : it is, that 
in the revolution of ages, no event has apparently been more 
propitious to the interests of the Gospel than the acquisition, 
by a Christian state, of the sovereignty of Hindoostan : I do 
not except the discovery of America ; especially when I re- 
collect how corrupt were the doctrines which were thus dis- 
seminated, and how unchristian the violence with which they 
were enforced. In any consequences, however, to be augured 

p H 



214 



A CHARGE TO 



from this source, I need hardly, I trust, with respect to you 
at least, disclaim the notion of any effect to be expected from 
the. exercise of power : God forbid that the most zealous 
among us should look to any power, but " the power of God 
unto salvation." 1 Yet even in this, the only Christian view 
of the question, external circumstances have their weight ; 
second causes are visibly instruments in the hands of God ; 
and it is not presumptuous to believe, rather are we forbidden 
to doubt, that this unparalleled and unforeseen exaltation of 
the British name is directed to objects not within the ken of 
avarice or ambition. It is hardly conceivable, that among the 
millions of unbelievers now subjects of a Christian state, none 
should be led to the obvious reflection, " Surely, this great 
nation is a wise and understanding people." 2 Here, as else- 
where, it will be natural to ask, what are the proximate causes 
which have led to such stupendous results ? it is not mere 
victory which prompts the question ; it must be seen that the 
advantage of physical force is not on our side : our know- 
ledge, our institutions, our habits of thinking, and our moral 
superiority must be perceived to enter largely into the theory 
of our progressive ascendancy, and they cannot fail to become 
subjects of closer investigation : and among a people to whom 
religion, at least in the abstract, presents questions of the 
highest interest, it is hardly to be supposed but that many 
will be anxious to ascertain what is the faith professed by 
such a nation, and what are the pretensions on which it rests. 
It were to disparage the faculties of a people not naturally 
dull, to imagine that they never analyse opinions and associ- 
ations so widely differing from their own ; and as little were 
it to do honour to the Gospel, to believe that a candid exa- 
mination of it, assisted by the appointed means, will not, 
under the divine guidance, lead some to conviction, and ulti- 
mately to conversion. In such an enquiry they cannot advance 
far without discovering, that hitherto they " have believed in 
vain 3 :" the deformity and weakness of error may escape ob- 
servation, while it engages the undivided attention of the 
human mind, but it cannot abide the test of a contrast with 
the beauty and consistency of truth. 

I have not, however, offered you these remarks without an 



1 Rom.i. 16. 2 Deut. iv. 6. 3 1 Cor. xv. 2.^ 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, &C. 



215 



especial reference to the proper business of our meeting. My 
wish is to impress you with a principle resulting from our na- 
tional successes in this quarter of the globe : it is the increased 
and increasing responsibility of the English clergy. Without 
any extension of the cure assigned to each, fresh demands 
are made upon the ministers of religion in a heathen land, in 
proportion as the faith which they inculcate is from any cause 
likely to become an object of interest with the natives, and 
any opening appears to be offered by Providence for the dif- 
fusion of the Gospel. You will have formed a narrow esti- 
mate of your office, and have thought unworthily of that 
scheme of mercy, which you were ordained to preach, if any 
prospect of moral good to the people around you 3 to say no- 
thing of spiritual blessings, excite in you no emotions of zeal, 
and serve not to remind you, that in such a work you are 
each of you called upon to bear a part. I cannot, in short, 
dissociate objects like these from the concerns of the esta- 
blished clergy. 

Before I proceed, however, to call your attention to your 
share and interest in the work, I will remark upon the col- 
lateral means which are here employed for the diffusion of the 
Gospel, and from which, as being expressly intended for the 
purpose, success is more generally expected ; I allude to 
Christian missions, a subject which it is becoming every day 
more difficult to detach from discussions like the present. It 
is certainly to the credit of our country, and of the age in 
which we live, that so much concern is felt for the condition 
of the heathen world ; it is in fact peculiar to the religion of 
Christ to be influenced by a regard for the spiritual welfare 
of man : paganism has never thought of making converts, 
unless perhaps in the rivalry between contending sects ; and 
Islamism appears not ever to have been actuated by any sen- 
timent allied to sympathy, but merely to have been impelled 
by the zeal of conquest, and to have considered its proselytes 
as subjects and abettors of its power. That Christianity is 
secure against this imputation will be admitted by those, at 
least, who dread the extension of the Gospel, as tending to 
dissolve the ties of allegiance among a people who acknow- 
ledge our sway. 

But allowing that missionary zeal among Christians may 
be generally imputed to the benign spirit of the Gospel, we 

p 4 



216 



A CHARGE TO 



cannot observe, without feelings mingled with regret, that it 
is not always so regulated as to produce the highest degree of 
good ; and what is passing before our eyes will furnish matter 
for reflection. To judge from the manner in which this sub- 
ject is sometimes spoken of, we might imagine that the primi- 
tive ages had returned, and that little was wanting but the 
miraculous powers then vouchsafed, to further the successes 
of the Gospel : on looking, however, into the records of those 
ages, I cannot acquiesce in a conclusion so gratifying, if it 
were but just, to every Christian mind : on the contrary, I am 
convinced, that hardly any two things, which are ever sup- 
posed to have a close resemblance, are more dissimilar. 

To any man who will take the trouble to ascertain this 
point, by examining the history of early Christianity, the re- 
mark will probably suggest itself, that he finds but little in 
the ecclesiastical historians which treats professedly and dis- 
tinctly of its propagation ; and that after the apostolic age, 
ecclesiastical history is rather that of churches already planted, 
and of the catholic church as a whole, than that of missions ; 
but if, nevertheless, Christianity, as we know, was continually 
extending itself, yet had not, in less than five centuries, sub- 
verted idolatry in the ancient world, what is the inference ? 
It is, that the diffusion of Christianity was not considered as 
an object altogether distinct from its general maintenance 
among believers, but that in some way or other, both were 
provided for in one common system of discipline; and this 
appears to have been actually the case. The first preachers 
of the Gospel contemplated its extension to the uttermost 
parts of the earth : but this extension was to be effected 
through themselves, or through persons whom they or their 
successors should commission ; and in this way the propaga- 
tion of religion would be only an expansion of the catholic 
church : in other words, it was so arranged that the esta- 
blished principles of Christian order should be taken to apply 
not merely to those who, at any given period, were within the 
Christian pale, but that all who might enter it should acquire 
their knowledge of Christ in conjunction with those principles, 
and be received through the instrumentality of persons who 
were themselves in the unity of the church. 

That I may not, however, rest a fact of so much import- 
ance upon mere assertion, I will state to you very briefly (for 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, &C. c >Vj 

briefly it must be) what appears to have been the method in 
which Christianity was disseminated in the primitive times. I 
have remarked that early ecclesiastical history, after the apos- 
tolic age, is not what, according to modern ideas, we might 
expect to find it, much engaged in the subject of missions. 
The command of Christ, " to baptize all nations 1 ," may be 
considered as the authority under which Christians are re- 
quired to be solicitous for the diffusion of the Gospel ; the 
command, however, was given to the eleven, and to those by 
implication, as well as by the especial assurance of divine 
aid 2 , who might be joined with them, or succeed them in the 
work ; to say nothing of the case of St. Paul, whose commis- 
sion, though subsequent to that of the twelve, was directly 
from Christ. By the apostles themselves and their associates? 
as some have gathered from the apostolic writings, about se- 
venty churches were founded, reaching to Babylon, eastward, 
and westward, as far as Spain 3 ; if indeed St. Paul ever ac- 
complished his meditated journey thither 4 , and if St. Peter, 
in speaking of the church at Babylon 5 , meant the ancient 
capital of Chaldea, neither of which seems probable. At any 
rate, Christianity was planted in the apostolic age in most of 
the regions subject to the power of Rome, though the con- 
verts were almost every where but a small part of the whole 
population. It does not, however, appear that any churches 
were planted except by the apostles, or by persons acting in 
connexion with them : the work of conversion began in unity, 
whatever were the divisions which arose afterwards ; and 
these divisions were never so great as to obliterate the effects 
of the order in which conversion commenced. What then 
was the course pursued ? Of the proceedings of the apostles 
I need not speak ; it is sometimes said that they were mission- 
aries, as the name applies : missionaries they were indeed ; 
going forth in the power and the spirit of Christ, and, as was 
to be expected, teaching the same doctrines and establishing 
churches, the members of which could meet in conscientious 
communion, knowing of no other separation or distinction than 
that of place. If the apostles, however, required assistance, 
as we know that they did, still more would their successors : 



1 Matt, xxviii. 19. 2 Matt, xxviii. 20. 

3 Fabricius, Lux Evang. cap. 5. 

4 Rom. xv. 24. 5 1 Pet. v. 13. 



218 



A CHARGE TO 



something analogous to a missionary system was indispens- 
able, and this was supplied, partly by the persons denomi- * 
nated evangelists, and partly by catechists. Evangelists were 
missionaries in the strictest sense ; their business was, as we 
learn from Eusebius J , to preach Christ to those who had not 
heard of his name, and to deliver them to the Gospels. It is 
asserted, however, on the same authority, that these men 
were disciples of the apostles ; that they laboured not merely 
to found new churches, but to confirm and consolidate those 
which were already planted ; and that even at the time of 
which the historian is speaking, the reign of Trajan, the 
Holy Spirit still wrought mighty works by their hands : of 
course they were under His especial guidance, and thus was 
the original purpose of edification and unity, and a knowledge 
of the truth, fulfilled ; for St. Paul declares that all offices in 
the church, including that of evangelists, were designed " for 
the edification (the building up) of the body of Christ, till we 
all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of 
the Son of God unto a perfect man." 2 These evangelists, 
therefore, though they seem not to have been confined in 
their mission to any certain spot longer than the occasion re- 
quired, were yet recognised members of the church, and 
amenable to its discipline. Upon this subject Moskeim, a 
Lutheran, and not a strenuous asserter of episcopacy, has re- 
marked, that " in early times it was undoubtedly the custom 
for such members of any church as might be desirous of imi- 
tating the example of the apostles, and propagating the Gos- 
pel among the heathen, to apply to the bishop for his " license 
and to enter on their travels under his sanction." 3 Order, it 
seems, was not then thought incompatible with enterprise or 
with holy influences, but rather, perhaps, to have been among 
the tests and evidences of a commission from God. 

The other provision to which I alluded for the extension 
of the Gospel, was in the appointment of catechists. As the 
evangelists were sent among barbarians, to whom possibly 
the name of Christ was unknown, the catechists were to bring 
into the fold of Christ the heathen who resided in the neigh- 

1 Ecct. Hist. 3. 37. Kripvrhiu rhv Xpirbv <pi\oTifiovtMepoi, kcu r^v twv ©etW 
' Eua77eA.ia»f Tarapa8i86vai yptupty 

2 Eph.iv. 12. 

3 Commentaries on the Affairs of the Christians, translated by Vidal, vol.i. p. 303. 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, &C. 



219 



bourhood of any Christian church : the conversion of these 
was an object contemplated in every Christian establishment : 
all who expressed a desire to be acquainted with the doctrines 
of the Gospel, were considered as standing in a certain rela- 
tion to the church ; not a close one indeed, till they had given 
evidence of their being in earnest, but yet one which was 
publicly avowed : places contiguous to the church were set 
apart for their instruction ; catechisms were compiled for their 
use ; catechumens were allowed to be present in the church 
during the sermon, and while certain prayers were offered for 
their illumination *, in which they were required to join ; and, 
if I mistake not, even the heathen who had not openly pro- 
fessed a desire to be instructed in our faith, were not alto- 
gether excluded. 

These then appear to have been the missionary proceedings 
of the first ages ; but all antiquity abounds with circumstances 
tending to show, that the propagation of the Gospel was in 
close connexion with order and discipline. Churches were 
built under the bishop's sanction, signified by his visiting the 
spot and fixing a cross 2 ; no clergyman could be ordained 
but with a specific and local charge 3 ; a convert could not be 
admitted to the orders either of priest or deacon, till he had 
brought over his whole family, whether infidels or heretics, to 
the catholic church 4 ; and one of the canons of the council 
of Chalcedon provides for the consecration and subordination 
of bishops in foreign parts. 5 Regulations such as these may 
be thought trivial in the laxity of modern times, still this was 
the system under which our faith was disseminated, and which 
had manifestly the blessing of God. 

We may, however, be asked, were there then no consider- 
able schisms in the primitive ages ? It is easy to reply, that 
there were several, and that thus the Scripture was fulfilled : 
but if it be required to estimate the degree in which they re- 
tarded the progress of the Gospel, the task would lead me 
far beyond my limits into curious and difficult research. 
Briefly, however, I would observe, that no where do we find 
in Scripture that these are matters of little moment ; they are 

1 Bingham's Christian Antiquities, xiv. 5. 3. 

2 Beveregii in Pandectas Canonum annott. vol.ii. p. 168. 

3 Bingham, iv. 6. 1. 

4 Bingham, iv. 3. 13. 

5 Canon xxviii. apud Beveregium. 



220 



A CHARGE TO 



spoken of in terms of reprobation as evidences of a carnal 
spirit ; and we read, that the fomenters of 'division should be 
" marked," and, after due admonition, " rejected :" still, how- 
ever, many such were found, and the truth prevailed, not 
through them, but against them. And why then, it is said, 
may it not be so now ? Far be it from us to doubt of the 
final issue, but we deprecate what may intervene ; and there 
are circumstances, perhaps, which made the divisions of early 
times less adverse to the propagation of the Gospel than those 
of the present : I allude not merely to the miraculous powers 
and influences which prevailed for a while in the church, and 
through which the Gospel was firmly established notwith- 
standing all impediments : it may be added, that the points 
in dispute were generally of a nature in which the learned 
only, or pretenders to learning, would take an interest ; they 
were not so much practical questions on which all must de- 
clare themselves : and even in those differences the same 
tenets, however erroneous, were for the most part maintained 
in the same district, so as to exhibit to the neighbouring 
heathen the appearance of unity. The history of Montanism, 
of Donatism, and even of Arianism, though the latter two did 
not appear till the beginning of the fourth century, will fur- 
nish more or less an illustration of these remarks : and pro- 
bably it may be true, that controversies upon any point had 
then less hold upon ordinary minds, when as yet men were 
not led by the enjoyment of political freedom to confound the 
maintenance of theological opinions with the exercise of civil 
rights. But what would have been the case, if in any of the 
provinces in which a ministry was already exercised by per- 
sons duly commissioned and ordained, and the catholic doc- 
trines were taught, what would have been the consequence if 
teachers had appeared impugning the form of church govern- 
ment till then universally received, and promulgating new 
opinions as to the sacrament by which men are admitted to 
the Christian covenant ? Though we cannot estimate amidst 
varying circumstances the force of the resistance which such 
obstacles might have opposed to the progress of the Gospel, 
we may venture to affirm that more pernicious questions could 
not have been agitated in a heathen land : under what form 
of church government Christian societies shall live ; what is 
the authority of their teachers, and whence derived ; and 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, &C. '2'21 

whether infants can or cannot be brought to Christ are prac- 
tical controversies, if any are practical, and they necessarily 
produce a diversity and a collision, which the heathen (I speak 
it of my own knowledge) do not fail to observe. It is, indeed, 
in this point of view, and not merely for the sake of institut- 
ing a comparison between primitive and modern missions 
that I have adverted to the subject ; and on this head, if we 
have any interest in Christian proceedings connected with this 
country, there is somewhat to regret. Under a system which 
liberally allows to all denominations of persons permission to 
settle in India, for the purpose of imparting to " the native 
inhabitants religious and moral improvement v ," it is surely to 
be wished that the terms of the grant were more strictly ob- 
served : the " native inhabitants" . are not benefited by the 
preaching of missionaries in English; nor do purely mission- 
ary objects account for that preference which is so frequently 
given by missionaries to a residence among Europeans, though 
it is obvious that the numbers and influence of a sect may 
thus be increased much more rapidly than by patient, and 
often ineffectual labour, bestowed upon the heathen. Still the 
true missionary will consider, that to encounter and overcome 
difficulties is actually his calling; and he will account it a 
greater work to have imparted to a single pagan the know- 
ledge of a Saviour, than to number a hundred Christians 
among his proselytes. The success, however, which has at- 
tended the preaching of missionaries among Europeans, makes 
a prominent figure in some of then* details : there have even 
been instances, at some stations, of direct interference with 
the chaplain ; nor have the most diligent of the clergy beeL 
altogether secure against intrusion. To consider a system, 
of which such proceedings should form a part, as the best 
adapted to the conversion of the heathen, would be not 
merely to renounce the wisdom which the Almighty so sig- 
nally prospered, but to substitute what has hardly the cha- 
racter of common prudence. 

Still it may be asked, is there no way in which the different 
sects, now unhappily dividing the Christian world, may es- 
sentially and unexceptionably contribute to the propagation 
of the Gospel ? , I should shrink from such a conclusion, 

1 53 Geo. 3. s.33. 



222 



A CHARGE TO 



however legitimate were the process, by which it might seem 
to be deduced : I should hesitate to believe for a moment, 
that laborious and pious and benevolent men, of any religious 
denomination, could be altogether disqualified for furthering 
such a work : if they would turn their attention chiefly to 
the elementary instruction of youth, — to the dissemination 
of European knowledge and arts, — to the improvement of 
morals, — to facilitating the acquisition of languages, — to 
bringing us acquainted with the opinions, and habits, and li- 
terature of those whom we wish to convert, and generally to 
breaking up and preparing the soil for the seed of the Gos- 
pel, they would indeed be valuable auxiliaries in the Christian 
cause ; and the most inconsiderable sect might thus attain a 
degree of usefulness, if not of worldly renown, which the most 
prominent cannot hope for in the present state of things. 

It will, however, immediately occur, that this is more than 
can be expected in the actual circumstances. There are 
strong indications, to some of which I have already alluded, 
that influence and power are among the objects which some- 
times actuate sectarian zeal. What next, then, should we 
recommend? So long as these objects shall be disclaimed, it 
will be only to act consistently with the disavowal of them, 
and of all views, except those of compassion for the heathen, 
which alone are professed ; to avoid, instead of seeking col- 
lision, with the established church, or even with any sect which 
has accomplished so much, that it may be said to be already 
in possession. The practicability of adopting this course of 
conduct cannot, for the present, be questioned. What im- 
measurable tracts still remain untrodden by believers in 
Christ ! What a field is still open in three out of the four 
quarters of the globe to him who is a missionary indeed ! to 
the man who is content to forego the comforts of European 
society, and to live among rude or superstitious tribes, seek- 
ing only to humanize and enlighten them, and to show them 
" the way, and the truth, and the life." By such a course of 
proceeding the work of conversion would be more rapid than 
it is at present : and though nations might thus be gained 
over to modes of faith, which we could not in all repects ap- 
prove, yet convinced that Christianity in any of its forms is 
beyond comparison better than paganism, we should bless 
God for the result : nor would our satisfaction be subject to 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, &C. 223 

the abatement which must ever attend it, when in the partial 
successes of various sects, all cultivating the same soil, we 
see the foundation of divisions and disputes, which must one 
day dishonour the Christian name. 

Before I dismiss this topic, let me announce to you, what 
cannot be heard with indifference, that the chartered Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts consider- 
ing that the establishment of episcopacy in this country is 
favourable to the design, are turning their thoughts to the 
founding of Eastern missions ; and with this view they have 
solicited royal authority to collect contributions in the churches 
throughout England and Wales. Their object, I have no 
doubt, will be to tread, as closely as the times and circum- 
stances will allow, in the footsteps of the primitive church : 
and if we look to their labours in other parts, it is not pre- 
sumptuous to hope that here also they will have the blessing 
of God. 1 

But though it be time that I proceed to speak of the im- 
mediate duties of the clergy, the view which I have taken of 
a collateral subject is not foreign from the present occasion. 
The propagation of Christianity among the heathen, and its 
maintenance among those who profess it, though distinct in 
their immediate object, are connected in their ultimate results : 
and the best allies which the true missionary can desire are a 
body of active regular clergy. The heathen, when they are 
urged to embrace the Gospel, will naturally enquire into the 
lives of Christians, or rather, without enquiry, they will exer- 
cise their own observation : and if it be possible to conceive a 
situation in which zeal, piety, and, perhaps, talents, are thrown 
away, it is that of the preacher to the heathen, who is labour- 
ing to make them believe in opposition to what they see. 
" By their fruits ye shall know them 2 ," is a test which the 
Gospel cannot evade : it is the test which itself has esta- 
blished, not indeed of its divine truth, for that would be the 
same, though not a knee on earth should bow at the name of 
Jesus, but of the reception which it may expect in the world. 
Here then is the proper sphere of clerical exertion: in the 
most restricted notion of your duties, if you go not beyond 

1 The Society's College, near Calcutta, was founded on the 15th December - 
1820. 

9 Matt. vii. 20. 



A CHARGE TO 



the limits of your flocks, you are called upon to take care, so 
far as may be, that there be nothing within your own fold 
which can cause the heathen to blaspheme. But what does 
even an approximation to such a state of things suppose ? 
Surely, nothing less, than that every one of you have a just 
conception of his office ; and high is the dignity, higher than 
in any worldly sense, of an authorised and faithful minister of 
the word. To be a teacher, an adviser, a comforter, a 
dispenser of ordinances, which Christ instituted as means of 
grace, an interpreter of Holy Writ, an example to believers, 
an advocate of the truth against them who would gainsay or 
pervert it, an ambassador for Christ, and a minister of recon- 
ciliation with God ; to be, in short, set apart by the Holy 
Spirit to rescue men from the snares of passion and illusion, and 
so to conduct them through things temporal, that they finally 
lose not the things eternal, ■ — these are the functions of the 
Christian pastor : and where there is a prevailing sense of their 
importance, with an earnest though imperfect devotion to the 
cause of Christ, they extort the tribute of reverence even from 
the children of the world. But then, be it remembered, that 
all this is personal ; that the high distinction is not merely 
lost, it is converted into a subject of reproach and dismay, 
when men invested with the sacred character falsify or even 
forget it. What member of society has less claim to respect 
than the clergyman, who, unmindful of the most solemn en- 
gagements, has no pleasure or apparent interest in his duties ? 
who is satisfied if he escape official censure ? who calculates 
how he may best consult his own ease ? who sanctions a sus- 
picion, that he regards his profession merely as a mainte- 
nance ? and who betrays his weariness of what he feels to be 
its restraints ? Whatever be the light in which any man may 
himself consider these things, I would tell him in the words 
of St. Austin, speaking of this very character, " Nihil apud 
Deum tristius, et miser ius, et damnabilius." 1 

But not to advert any further to a case, which it is hoped 
is every where of rare occurrence, there may still be in the 
clergy, especially in this country, indications unobserved by 
themselves, of a want of due consideration as to the import- 
ance of their functions. In England, for instance, no parish 



! Tom. ii. p. 19. edit. Benedict. 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, &C. 225 

is left for a day without provision for the duty ; but the same 
feeling does not prevail in India. I readily admit, that here 
the circumstances are different : but it is the mischief arising 
from this difference, which I would counteract. It is true, 
that here, however urgent the cause of absence, no assistance, 
generally speaking, can be had : the nearest clergyman is 
probably at the distance of one or two hundred miles. What, 
then, is the point to which 1 would advert? It is an error 
into which all of us very easily fall ; that of excusing or under- 
rating mischief, which might be avoided, by recollecting that 
it cannot be avoided always : the mind thus becomes recon- 
ciled to it, as if it were a reasonable consequence, that there 
cannot be much to deprecate in what must sometimes be 
endured. I would remind you, then, that the evil, though 
sometimes unavoidable, of leaving a station for months toge- 
ther, is one of the heaviest inconveniences and severest 
checks, to which religion is exposed in this diocese. In the 
absence of the chaplain, the Lord's Day may indeed be ob- 
served as a day of rest and private meditation ; though this, 
probably, would not long be the case, where it was not pub- 
licly and visibly distinguished ; but that must be the utmost : 
and as to other duties, lay-baptism will intrude under the 
plea of necessity, and laymen must officiate at the interment 
of the dead ; to the Holy Communion none will have access, 
however urgent their desire to receive it ; and the sick and 
dying will be left without spiritual support or advice : in 
short, every Christian association must be violated, and every 
Christian habit lost : and I can hardly conceive by what pro- 
cess they can soon be restored. In all cases, therefore, of 
application for leave of absence, necessity alone should be 
considered as a justification : in the event of sickness requiring 
a removal, a medical certificate will of course be transmitted 
to myself, or in my absence to the archdeacon : and in other 
cases, where the necessity is not apparent, or the time re- 
quired seems needlessly long, it should be considered as the 
discharge of an invidious duty, if any difficulty be made in 
granting the request. 

Connected with this subject is the absence of chaplains 
from their stations, when they are invited to solemnize mar- 
riages at a distance : where this is great, it seems but reason- 
able, that the parties applying should attend at the station of 

o 



226 



A CHARGE TO 



the clergyman, or at least within such a distance of it, that 
their private convenience shall not involve any neglect of his 
public duties ; in which I include, not merely those of the 
Lord's Day, and at military stations the visiting of the hos- 
pitals, but all others, which really appertain to his office : and 
I will add, that it becomes the clergy to discountenance the 
strange notion, which some seem to entertain, that to give 
validity to the marriage contract is the most important of 
their functions. 

It may also be proper before I dismiss you, to notice a few 
other points connected with your ordinary duties : some of 
these admonitions I repeat from my primary charge, and 
others are founded upon the returns then made to my articles 
of inquiry. I am to remind you, then, that marriages must 
be solemnized in the church or chapel, if there be one within 
a reasonable distance, and at any rate within the canonical 
hours ; and that the clergy have no authority to marry without 
the publication of banns, unless this be superseded by a 
licence : the sixty-second canon is explicit, both upon the 
law and the penalty. — Another rule to be observed is, the 
punctual half-yearly return of marriages, baptisms, and 
burials, to the registrar of the archdeaconry : the object, how- 
ever, of this rule will be defeated, if the entries be not regular 
and complete : in some parts of the diocese they have been 
very defective. There have too been cases, in which it was 
discovered, that children have been baptized by one name and 
registered by another ; and in some, that there had been no 
registration at all ; such negligence in a point of such import- 
ance is inexcusable : where the register is not at hand, a 
memorandum should be taken on the spot, and the registration 
be made with the least possible delay. — Another duty of pri- 
mary importance, is visiting the sick soldiery at military 
stations ; and I cannot think it sufficient, that the clergyman 
should attend occasionally, or merely when he is sent for : this 
would be to suppose that the ignorant, and possibly the pro- 
fligate, are the best judges of their spiritual wants. In an 
order upon this subject, issued while the chaplains were 
under military authority, I find it directed, that the military 
hospitals shall be visited twice in the week. 1 It is impossible 

1 Circular Letter, by command of His Royal Highness the Commander in 
Chief, dated 8th November, 1811. 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, &C. 227 

not to honour the benevolence which suggested this regula- 
tion : and I should be sorry, if a laxer discipline were now to 
prevail. But let the visit be made in the true spirit of such 
a duty : let the sick be invited to confidence, and feel that 
they have a friend : listen with sympathy to the sad tale of 
past neglect of God : if it be necessary, forbear not to display 
" the terror of the Lord 2 ;" and seize upon the moment of 
contrition to unfold the doctrines of pardon and peace, and 
the efficacy of sincere repentance and amendment of life, 
through a Saviour. To be cold or indifferent in duties like 
these is to lose one of the fairest opportunities of doing good, 
while it would indicate in any clergyman a general unfitness 
for his work. — On the subject of schools I should not think 
it necessary to make any remark, if a total silence might not 
seem to disparage an object of the first importance. In some 
parts of the diocese, the clergy, to their honour, are doing 
much in this way ; and wherever there is a chaplain, it may 
fairly be expected that there will be a well-conducted school. 
I will only add, that the books used by the National Society 
may be obtained on application to the several committees of 
the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and that the 
system is now practised and may be learnt at any of the three 
presidencies. — Lastly, let me once for all remind the clergy, 
that whenever any thing is wanted for the decent and due 
performance of divine service, as proper books, a surplice or 
sacramental plate, to apply for them through the accustomed 
channel of correspondence : it is not excusable to be without 
them, where they may so readily be had. I would not here 
observe, if some indistinct notions on the subject had not 
gone abroad, that the clergy are in all matters connected 
with their official concerns to correspond with myself, or in 
my absence, with the archdeacons ; and that they are in all 
respects under ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 

After having thus called your attention to various particu- 
lars connected with the regular performance of your duties, 
I need not enlarge generally upon the topic of regularity 
and discipline : still I must repeat, till the admonition be 
absolutely superfluous, that order and system must in all 
things be maintained : there is, especially at the present day, 



2 2 Cor. v. 11. 

Q 2 



A CHARGE TO 



a tendency in the world to neglect or to decry them ; but 
they are of God : they prevailed in the church in apostolic 
and primitive times, in a degree which would now be stigma- 
tized as superstition : without them, even in the affairs of the 
world, nothing great and good can be accomplished : they 
are the principles which hold together the works of the 
Creator ; we find them distinctly recognized in his word : in 
matters of religion they are especially required ; God is not 
the author of confusion in the churches of the saints : 1 we 
solemnly pledge ourselves to observe them, in our ordination 
vows : in this country the natives have no notion of any 
religion without them : they form, in short, the strength, the 
whole strength, of false religions ; and the want of them is the 
weakness of the true one. Impressed with these truths, you 
will not fail by precept, as well as by example, to uphold the 
constitution of the church, in which you were ordained : nor 
is it bigotry, which I would recommend, unless, indeed, in 
that sense in which every thing is so denominated, which is 
opposed to a torrent of undistinguishing generalities, or to 
the dogmatism of some aspiring sect. They, if such there 
be, who are not verily persuaded, that in doctrine, in disci- 
pline, and in worship, our church is framed after the model 
of Scripture and of the primitive times, have indeed placed 
themselves in a painful conflict between conscience and 
solemn obligation : but they who are so persuaded, as I 
doubt not are all of you, will maintain it against opposition; 
not, however, in a spirit, which serves but to indicate the 
weakness of a cause, but learnedly, charitably, calmly, and 
firmly : and though even thus we may not escape the charge 
of prejudice, still the abandonment of principles, to which we 
are pledged, might subject us to worse imputations : and as to 
the consequences, it may be sufficient to observe, that if there 
be any laxity upon points of this kind, it is only among our- 
selvesc 

In conclusion, it would afford me the highest satisfaction, 
if I could announce to you, that the wants of this diocese, 
noticed by me on a former occasion, were in great measure 
already relieved : in the archdeaconry, however, of Calcutta, 
to which they are principally confined, much may be confi- 



1 1 Cor. xiv. 33. 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, &C. 229 

dently expected: the supreme government have concurred 
with me 1 in the expediency of recommending to the Honour- 
able Court of Directors, a large increase in the number of 
chaplains ; the want of whom in that archdeaconry is indeed 
very great ; and the commencement of one church of becom- 
ing appearance, and the preparations for erecting another 
within the same district, are, I doubt not, the forerunners of 
similar works, tending to advance the credit of our religion 
and the glory of God. The present moment, indeed, is not 
one in which we can have cause to despair : something may 
be looked for from the condition of the church at home ; for 
though it is assailed by various enemies, yet has more been 
done for its security and advancement within the last few 
years, than at any period for a century preceding. The act 
enforcing the residence of incumbents, and providing for the 
better support of stipendiary curates, with sundry provisions 
relating to the duties of the clergy, seems wisely calculated to 
remove evils, which had become inveterate : and the munifi- 
cent grant of parliament for building churches, aided by a 
powerful society having the same object in view, will open 
to the population of the country free access to the established 
worship, and leave to the cause of dissent or schism, those only 
who approve its principles. Nor ought we to forget, that the 
pastoral character has, at no period, been higher among the 
English clergy, than it is at the present day : never has more 
attention been paid to lowly duties, or greater activity evinced 
in doing good. For these things all who love our Zion, 
however dispersed through the wide world, will give praise and 
blessing unto God ; but I cannot believe that we shall derive 
no actual advantage from this increasing interest in the main- 
tenance of religion at home : the propriety and the duty of 
upholding it in a splendid dependency of the empire will be 
felt in a proportionate degree : and if ever there be a crisis 
when this branch of the national church can have little to 
apprehend from neglect, it is, surely, when Providence for its 
own good ends has committed to British stewardship the 
riches and resources of the East. 

But, after all, my reverend brethren, be the means afforded 
what they may, to you must I look, under Providence, to 



; In a letter dated 25th September 1818. 

Q 3 



230 



A CHARGE, &C. 



give them full effect. I call on you, therefore, I solemnly 
conjure you to " take heed unto the ministry, which ye have 
received of the Lord, that ye fulfil it 2 to reflect on its 
endless importance to yourselves as well as to your flocks, and 
even to those who as yet know not the way of life. A body of 
clergy, though not very numerous, acting on common princi- 
ples, breathing the same spirit, and speaking the same thing, 
combining zeal with the love of order, courteous without 
secularity, sedate without being austere, respectable from 
their education and attainments, and revered as living exam- 
ples of the power of the Gospel over the heart, — such men can 
never be without influence in any region of the civilized world : 
they possess, indeed, an efficiency, which is not properly their 
own, but is rather the operation, in and through them, of the 
Holy Spirit. Commending you, therefore, together with 
myself, to his guidance in all things, I pray that we may be 
enabled to render true and faithful service Xo the great Head 
of the church; and that having contributed in our several 
stations, by fidelity to our engagements, by soundness of 
doctrine, and by holiness of life, by zeal, by knowledge, and 
by charity, to promote His glory upon earth, we may, in 
life's last retrospect, give the praise unto Him, and with no 
reliance but on His merits, hope to be received to mercy. 



^ Col.iv. 17. 



A CHARGE 

DELIVERED TO 

THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA, 
In December, 1821. 



MY REVEREND BRETHREN, 

This is the third time that I have been permitted to call you 
together for the purposes of these triennial solemnities. It is 
hardly possible, under any circumstances, to reflect on the 
lapse of such intervals of human life, without something of 
serious emotion : but in the country, in which Providence has 
appointed us our respective tasks, it will be to all of us, and 
especially to those who are advanced in years, a subject of 
solemn thought and thankfulness, that we have been pre- 
served, amidst the ordinary havoc made by the climate, and 
even amidst the wide devastations of an epidemic disease, 
still to offer unto God the tribute of our humble services, 
still to labour for the good of souls, and to work out our own 
salvation ; to be still telling of the goodness of God among 
our brethren, to grow stronger in the faith, to gain fresh ac- 
cessions of light and knowledge, and, which is the proper use 
of these, to be enabled to impart them to those around us, 
who have not enjoyed the same opportunities, or been equally 
blessed in their work. 

It is, however, on the presumption that we have been not 
merely mindful of the general uses of life, but especially and 
pre-eminently of the sacred trust committed to us, that any 

2 4 



232 



A CHARGE TO 



reflections on our past preservation can be unaccompanied 
with pain : the mercies of God cease to be mercies, whenever 
they are abused : to have lived idly and unprofitably should 
be with all, who think, a subject of regret : but with ourselves 
the case will be stronger: we have been separated, (let us 
never forget it,) and solemnly set apart unto God : has he 
purposes to accomplish in respect to our brethren ? we have 
pledged ourselves to be His instruments : has He given 
to them a revelation of His will ? we are, within our proper 
sphere, its constituted interpreters : has He designs of mercy 
to be gradually communicated to the whole human race ? we 
are to encourage the hope, and to stimulate the desire, of 
such a consummation : has He appointed us to be as lights in 
the world ? if that which should illumine and cheer and 
comfort, be found to be darkness, how great must that dark- 
ness be ? To have neglected these high considerations, must 
implicate us in a degree of guilt, of which we cannot be self- 
convicted without feelings of remorse and anguish, as having 
betrayed a trust delegated to us by God's Holy Spirit, under 
sanctions the most awful, and involving consequences both 
to ourselves and to others, which may reach through all 
eternity. 

It is, therefore, among the salutary provisions of our 
church, that the clergy are periodically called together by 
authorities, which they recognise at the time of their ordina- 
tion, to have their attention immediately directed to their 
duties and concerns ; to the state of things in the Christian 
world, and more especially within their own sphere of action; 
to be admonished, if any thing be amiss ; to be encouraged 
to persevere against difficulties ; to be warned in what quarter 
danger is chiefly to be apprehended ; to be reminded where 
good may be attempted with the fairest prospect of success ; 
and to be brought, as far as possible, to that unity of senti- 
ment and action, which should distinguish the clergy of the 
same establishment. 

There is, however, something peculiar in our condition and 
circumstances : we stand in the same general relation to our 
flocks, as do the bishops and clergy of dioceses in countries 
wholly Christian : but moreover we owe something to the 
millions among whom we dwell, and to whom the name, or 
at least the faith of Christ, is unknown : we are brought. 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA. 



238 



therefore, into contact with objects, which our brethren in 
England view, not indeed with indifference, but at a distance, 
which precludes actual and direct participation : and though 
our ordinary relation to our Christian brethren remains in 
fall force, it is not perhaps wholly unaffected by circumstances 
which are extraneous. We owe, in fact, the same solicitude, 
both in measure and in kind, to our countrymen ; but in the 
discharge of the duties to which it will prompt us, we shall 
hardly lose sight of the connexion which subsists, between 
the advancement of faith and holiness among Christians, and 
the possible interest which may thus be excited in those, who 
are without : in other words, the parochial character of the 
clergy, so far as in the condition of the country this character 
is attainable, will not be wholly unmixed with that missionary 
interest, which, in such circumstances especially, will be cre- 
ated by zeal for the religion of Christ. If, then, in this view 
of the case I am generally correct, it seems proper on all such 
occasions as the present, to advert to the condition of the 
heathen around us, as well as to the immediate subject of 
these solemnities, the positive and appointed duties of the 
clergy. The train of thought into which I am led, requires 
that I should first speak of that, which, though important, 
is only collateral to the main design. 

Unquestionably, within a very few years a change has taken 
place in the sentiment of the people around us. It was once 
hardly known, even by the better informed among them, 
that we possessed any system of religious belief, or indeed 
that there were any considerable modes of faith existing 
among men, except the two, which divide, though unequally, 
the population of Hindoostan. They viewed their conquerors 
as men of enterprise and talent and bravery, skilled in the 
arts of war and government, and, if just and equitable in their 
administration, owing these virtues to something national or 
constitutional, or even to self-interest, rather than to the fear 
of God. Of our views upon subjects connected with religion, 
little could be known : though we did not practise idolatry, 
we were not in general very forward to condemn it : policy 
and' interest, not even yet perhaps so effectually disclaimed 
as might be wished, seemed rather to recommend that it 
should be numbered among harmless prejudices, and treated 
with respect : and any intercourse with the natives, tending 



234 



A CHARGE TO 



directly to religious discussions and aiming at their conviction, 
was probably extremely rare. It cannot be necessary to 
insist at much length, upon the contrast exhibited in the 
present state of things. Curiosity is awakened to ascertain, 
what opinions we really hold upon the most momentous of 
all questions ; and the inquisitive have learnt, that we have a 
religion, which we not only believe to be true, but to be the 
only truth : they perceive that we are even anxious to impart 
it to them, considering them as lost in darkness and delusion : 
and that we are forward to show the reasons and grounds of 
our faith, while they themselves have nothing to allege but an 
obscure and exaggerated antiquity, believed but not recorded, 
or the absurd pretence, that intrinsically there is little differ- 
ence between us, as if their books really inculcated, or even 
hinted at, the doctrine of salvation through the Son of God. 

Of the change, however, which has taken place, the most 
prominent evidence will be found in circumstances of recent 
occurrence. Sanguine as have been the expectations of a 
few, and cautious as were the many in speaking to the natives 
upon the subject of religion, who could have believed, that 
any would have been found among them thus early to provoke 
religious discussions, and openly to impugn the fundamental 
doctrines of Christianity ? to cavil at its mysteries, to deny 
the atonement, and to attempt to reduce the stupendous 
scheme of Revelation to some, not all, of the Divine sayings, 
which it ascribes to Christ ; teaching that these are sufficient 
unto salvation ? and all this with an air of research and learn- 
ing borrowed from our biblical criticism 1 : while others in a 
lighter way publish their objections to our holy faith, or their 
misconceptions of what it teaches, and challenge us to reply. 

It is impossible for us to know precisely, in what way, or 
by what combination of means, God in his secret counsels 
may purpose to establish his truth: we may, however, humbly 
hope, that these are favourable symptoms. The religion of 
Christ is not, indeed, to be propagated by the mere exercise 
of human reason : the appeal must be as much to the con- 
sciences of the heathen, as to their understandings : they can 
" believe unto righteousness," (and no other belief is worth 
inculcating) only " with the heart." 2 Still it is somewhat to 

? In sundry tracts by Ram Mohun Roy. 3 Romans x. 10. 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA. 



235 



remove the obstacles, by which the avenues of the heart are 
closed : to gain over the understanding to our side, convicting 
it of ignorance or prejudice, and thus to teach humility. It 
were, indeed, contrary to the character of our religion, and 
even to scripture, to believe, that argument is wholly useless 
in its propagation : it is supported by evidences peculiar to 
itself, or rather it is the only faith in the world, which has any 
thing like evidence to produce ; but it cannot be supposed, 
that of this no advantage should be taken : we are directed 
to " be ready always to give an answer to every man that 
asketh us the reason of our hope." 1 We find our Saviour 
continually arguing from prophecy: and that St. Paul 
" mightily convinced the Jews, shewing by the Scriptures 
that Jesus was the Christ. 2 

We cannot, therefore, view with indifference the disposition 
which has appeared among us, to examine and even to 
impugn Christianity : we are thankful that we have lived to 
witness this crisis, notwithstanding the gross misconceptions 
and perversions, to which at first it may give rise. It proves, 
at least, that an interest is excited, and that the most for- 
midable impediment hitherto opposed to our religion, that of 
apathy, is giving way. We may lament, indeed, and must 
lament, the attempt to raise a new sect among us, divided as 
we are already in the midst of a heathen land : we must 
lament that the faith, even of a single individual, in the great 
doctrine of our Saviour's divinity, should be at all affected by 
the opinions of one, who without disparagement must be 
considered as a novice in Christian researches. We have, 
however, nothing to apprehend as to the general result : the 
Socinian heresy, though the most Anti-Christian of all 
heresies, is perhaps the least to be dreaded at the present day. 
It appeals to what few comparatively feel, while it disappoints 
all the wants and weaknesses of the human heart. The event, 
indeed, serves to shew, to what endless aberrations the mind 
is subject, when the " old paths" and the " good ways" are 
forsaken, as we follow them in our national church, marked 
out to us from the primitive times, and men treat religion as 
a newly-invented science, in which as yet there are no fixed 
principles, and all is to be settled by experiment. 



1 1 Peter iii. 15. 



: Acts xviii. 28, 



$86 



A CHARGE TO 



In speaking, however, of favourable changes, more may be 
said. Idolatry is certainly disavowed by many, in principle 
at least, in whose minds, but a few years since, no doubt on 
the subject had been raised : and it appears that the natives, 
wherever there are schools, are willing that their children 
should receive instruction : which, if it be not Christian, can 
hardly be afterwards made subservient to the false views of 
nature and of theology, contained in their sacred books. It 
is easy, however, to attach to these and to all other favourable 
symptoms, more importance than really belongs to them : 
and there is reason to apprehend, that this, in some instances, 
actually happens, especially in England, among those who 
readily believe what they wish, and who have not the means 
of correcting their judgment by actual observation. And if 
this be true to any great extent, the mischief is apparent : 
there will be, at no distant period, a recoil of public feeling : 
the sanguine, when they are disappointed, are the most subject 
to despondency. The tide at present runs strongly in favour 
of almost every attempt to disseminate Christianity, from 
whatever quarter it may proceed, and without much inquiry 
Into its probable results : but if it shall be found, that facts 
were not impartially stated, and that undue expectation was 
raised by the suppression of difficulties, it will be no longer 
easy to obtain support for the soberest and most legitimate 
enterprises. The truth therefore is, on all accounts, to be 
told unreservedly : and they, who are solicitous for the dif- 
fusion of the Gospel, while they duly estimate the magnitude 
of the undertaking, should be satisfied with the reasonable 
hope, that though the consummation may be distant, their 
labours of love, with the divine blessing, will not ultimately 
have been in vain. 

It were, indeed, contrary to all which is recorded in the 
early history of the Gospel, to suppose that its establishment 
through these vast regions may be accomplished, within the 
term of any human life. We are apt to lay great stress upon 
the rapidity with which the religion of Christ was dissemi- 
nated in the course of the first century ; at a time, however, 
when the hand of God was visibly put forth to show that he 
aided the work. In about seventy years from our Saviour's 
Ascension, the Christians, at least in the northern parts of 
Asia Minor, should appeal', according to the well-known 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA. 



statement of the younger Pliny, to have constituted a great 
majority. About this time, however, the miraculous powers, 
if not absolutely withdrawn, began to be more sparingly dis- 
pensed : we do not afterwards find, that the progress of the 
Gospel was at all proportionate to this rapid increase ; and 
some centuries elapsed, before it became generally prevalent 
throughout the Roman empire. It has been computed, 
though not from premises which admit of any exactness, 
that at the commencement of the reign of Diocletian, about 
fifty thousand persons constituted the whole of the Christian 
community at Rome. 1 

The question, then, will obviously arise, whether the diffi- 
culties, which Christianity had to encounter in the early ages, 
were greater, upon the whole, than they are at present, with 
reference to the state of India ? To enter at large into such 
an inquiry would far exceed my present limits ; but a very 
brief comparison may perhaps assist the judgment : the ad- 
vantages we possess, positive or negative, may be the follow- 
ing. In the primitive times Christianity had to contend 
against the grossest misrepresentations : its professors w r ere 
charged with licentiousness and atheism ; they were in fact, for 
the most part, obscure persons, of whom any thing might be 
said with impunity, and with little chance of refutation : the 
ver^ reverse is the case with Christians in this country. — 
The early Christians were also confounded, and almost iden- 
tified in public opinion, with the Jews ; whose very name was 
associated with ridicule and opprobrium. Philosophy too and 
learning were every thing in the estimation of the ancient 
Pagans; whereas the Christians were not only for the most part 
unlearned, but were represented as the enemies of all learning 
by their very profession. Here again the contrast is manifest : 
the Hindoo learning bears no proportion to that of the 
ancient Greeks, nor is the little possessed held in the same 
esteem : while Christians in this country are not only learned, 
at least as a people, but evidently show, that the dissemination 
of knowledge is a part of their system. — Again, among the 
subjects of the Roman empire, the worship of the gods 
was generally considered as connected with the stability of 

1 Routh's Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. iii. p. 43. 



238 



A CHARGE TO 



of the national greatness : 1 Rome had been founded in Pa- 
ganism, and had prospered under it; and as Christianity 
advanced, it was found to decline. But national glory is 
not an idea familiar to the minds of Hindoos ; nor in any 
supposed desertion of them by their gods could they sink 
into deeper depression. — Moreover, it may be observed, that 
in the early ages Christianity was an experiment : if its effects 
were visible on a few, it was not yet known how it would operate 
upon nations ; whereas now it is seen to be the parent of virtue, 
of knowledge, and of freedom ; in short, the firmest bond of 
states, and the surest pledge of their greatness. In the last 
place, it may be remarked, that the early Christians had not 
the means of diffusing their tenets by the use of printing : it 
might seem that this gives us an immense advantage ; but, 
perhaps, it may be over-rated : the want of other means of 
conversion to any great extent enforced the necessity every 
where of oral instruction and of preaching, which doubtless 
would be far more efficacious, and which, so far as we can 
judge, will always be found indispensable ; and the minds of 
catechumens were well initiated, and men came prepared to 
the reading of the Holy Scriptures. 2 It appears, indeed, 
that in the early ages, versions of the Scriptures were made 
principally, if not entirely, with a view to the wants of those 
who had already embraced, or professed a desire of embracing, 
Christianity : the services of the church could not well pro- 
ceed without them. 3 Still it will not be disputed, that the use 
of printing must be numbered among other advantages; espe- 
cially if more be not expected from it than is reasonable, so as 
to create disappointment. It exceedingly facilitates discussion 
with the heathen, who are at all interested in ascertaining 
what the Gospel is, and what it requires : and the Scriptures, 
especially in separate portions, and tracts upon Christianity, 
may be found, with the Divine blessing, to awaken curiosity 
at least among some, to whom preachers have not been sent. 

Thus far it might appear, that the impediments to the 
progress of the Gospel in this country are small compared 

1 By Libanius in his Oration for the Temples ; and by others. See Lardner's 
Works, 8vo. Vol. VIII. p. 459. 

2 Eusebii Preep. Evang. Xll. 1. Bingham, X. 1.7. 

3 Semler de Christianorum Statu. Vol. I. p. 60. 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA. 



C 2S9 



with those, which were opposed to its early teachers : but 
the balance probably will not be found to be much in our fa- 
vour, if we examine the other side of the statement. One 
of the most obvious differences is, that, instead of our being 
here an obscure and persecuted people, we are the domi- 
nant power. In the manner, however, in which hitherto our 
rule has been exercised, (and the same moderation, it is 
hoped, will always be continued,) our power is evidently of no 
use in the propagation of the Gospel : no boon or encourage- 
ment has ever been holden out, or any preference shown, 
to converts: it may be thought, perhaps, that political ap- 
prehensions have operated rather the other way ; it were idle 
to dissemble, that persons, neither few in number, nor incon- 
siderable in influence, have thought, that our interests in a 
splendid possession are best secured by letting every thing 
remain in its present state. But without insisting on this 
point, I would remark the advantage, for such it was, which 
the cause of Christianity in the early ages derived from per- 
secution : that it suffered much, is true, and even that it 
seemed at one period to be nearly extinguished : an imperial 
inscription is still preserved, in which the triumphant ex- 
pression occurs, " Nomine Christianorum deleto." 1 But 
this was only according to man's judgment : persecution had 
been from the beginning, under the superintending provi- 
dence of God, one of the most fruitful sources of conver- 
sion : the fortitude and constancy of Christians had a power 
beyond that of preaching. Among the earlier and most emi- 
nent converts to the Gospel was Justin Martyr ; who, amidst 
much admiration of its doctrines, confesses that the spectacle 
of the calm endurance of suffering for the sake of Christ 
chiefly determined him to become a Christian.* 2 It is further 
to be considered, and it is remarkable, that the heathen, who 
were converted in early times, had no sacred books profess- 
ing to be divine revelations ; the Sibylline books need 
hardly be excepted, as being of a political character : they 
endeavoured to learn the will of their gods through oracles 
and divinations; much too uncertain, however, to be ap- 
pealed to as a general standard. There was nothing at all 
corresponding with what we hear so much of, as the doc- 



Gruteri Inscript. Antiq. p. 280. 



2 Opera, Ed. 1686. p. 50. 



240 



A CHARGE TO 



trine of the Shastras. It may be added, that the lives of 
Christians at the present day, as exhibited among the hea- 
then, are not such as to excite observation by extraordinary 
piety or purity, so as to induce a belief that their faith is 
exclusively from God. — In respect of church order and 
discipline, we can hardly pretend to a comparison with the 
early Christians; the doctrines which they held on these 
points, largely as they contributed to the success of the Gospel, 
are now in disrepute : their divisions, moreover, various as 
they were upon questions in which the heathen could feel no 
concern, did not, for the most part, present the externals of 
discord ; and they did not in a single instance, before the 
middle of the fourth century, touch the subject of church 
government, or call in question the principles, on which the 
church, as a society instituted by Christ, is founded. — And 
not least among our difficulties must be mentioned that of 
caste : In early ecclesiastical history we find instances, no 
doubt, of uneasiness and displeasure in heathen families at 
the conversion of any of their number, but nothing which 
precluded all further intercourse with the convert, or even 
the interchange of accustomed charities : on the contrary, we 
read of cases, in which conversion produced no alienation, 
except in the rites and exercises of religion. We know it to 
be otherwise here ; and yet it has been found, that even the 
terrors of the law of caste may be defied and despised : and 
in every such instance we cannot doubt, that it loses a portion 
of its influence, and that when Christian converts of any con- 
sideration shall be sufficiently numerous to form a society 
among themselves, it will be a mere dead letter. 

On the whole, then, it will probably appear that the work of 
conversion at the present day, and in this country, does not 
yield, in point of difficulty? to the task of the earlier Christian 
teachers. But it cannot be supposed that this result is given 
for any purpose of discouragement ; little, in fact, has yet 
been attempted in any regular way. Whatever is the will of 
God, (and we are sure that He wills the coming of Christ's 
kingdom, sooner or later, among all nations,) can never be 
impossible ; and all which we call difficulties are resolvable 
into our ignorance of the means (for means must be employed) 
which God will graciously prosper: if this could be ascer- 
tained, the whole problem would be solved and the business 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA. 241 

done. Now certainly we may hope that the course of pro- 
ceeding which God will bless will be that which, allowing for 
the difference of circumstances, comes the nearest to the 
practice of the primitive times. The difficulty lies in the 
adaptation, though such adaptation does not appear to have 
been much a subject of enquiry. Independent experiments, 
recommended perhaps in some measure by their novelty, have 
the ascendancy in the public mind. I would not speak of 
any of these with disrespect, nor yet with unnecessary re- 
serve. To the use of the press, in a religious view, I have 
already adverted. Some, however, appear to lay great stress 
on the diffusion of mere knowledge and science, which, though 
it will assuredly undermine idolatry, will hardly prepare the 
way for the doctrine of Christ. Men do not usually become 
more humble as they learn to feel the force of their natural 
powers ; and they who shall have extracted from Christianity 
all that exalts and ennobles life in reference to the world, will 
be apt to be satisfied with their attainments and proceed no 
further. Others have thought, that an extensive study of Sans- 
crit literature would be productive of great effect, as it would 
enable us more fully to argue with the heathen out of their 
own books. This seems, however, to be a concession in limine 
to the authority of those books ; and besides its being neces- 
sarily a slow process, it would rather, if successful, establish 
our religion as a species of philosophy, and would thus pervert 
it ; as was the case in the second century among the Christians, 
who emanated from the school of Alexandria : their faith was 
a forced agreement between Christianity and Platonism. 
Much difference of opinion has also arisen respecting the 
medium of communication with the natives, whether it should 
be in their own languages or in ours, although the question 
should hardly seem to turn upon the preference, supposing 
both to be equally practicable : the former will obviously be 
necessary at the outset, while the latter, surely, is the result to 
which we should unceasingly direct our efforts. It seems ad- 
mitted on all hands that the languages of the country are far 
below the level of the ideas which we have to impart. A 
competent acquaintance with the English tongue would at 
once lay open to the minds of the natives, not only the trea- 
sures of our religion and knowledge, but our habits of thought 
and feeling, and thus form a bond of union between them and 

R 



A CHARGE TO 



us, far stronger, probably, than any which at present exists. 
The first teachers of Christianity had a great advantage in 
the prevailing use of the Greek tongue; and we ought, as 
much as possible, to disseminate our own, with a view to the 
possession of similar facilities. 

Upon the course of proceeding in this great question in the 
primitive ages, I took occasion to speak at some length when 
I last addressed you ; and if I mistake not, I showed distinctly 
that the diffusion of Christianity was not effected so much by 
independent efforts, and unauthorised experiments, as by the 
gradual expansion of the catholic church. It was thus that 
the work began : " As they went through the cities they de- 
livered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained 
of the apostles and elders, which were at Jerusalem : and so 
were the churches established in the faith, and increased in 
number daily." 1 It may, therefore, be expected that nothing 
would more effectually contribute to the object in question 
than a considerable church establishment among us, which 
should at least make our religion conspicuous and procure 
for it respect, while it countenanced the operations and gave 
a character to the labours of those who should be employed 
in the work of conversion. I am not, I need hardly observe, 
supposing the regular clergy to be missionaries ; they have 
other duties to perform, and almost every where, if they be 
performed with diligence, sufficient to occupy their time, 
though no reason can be given w T hy they should not avail 
themselves of their Christian opportunities to receive converts 
within the pale of their respective congregations : nor can 
there be any thing more Christian in its aspect than the spec- 
tacle which, I am told, may be seen, of a number of native 
converts joining with our own people in the service of the 
church. Missionaries, therefore, acting under proper autho- 
rity, and subject to control, as in the primitive times, must be 
employed; and schools in connexion with our missions must 
be maintained, in which elementary knowledge shall be taught 
preparatory to the sowing of the seed of the Gospel. Still 
the prevailing sentiment among the established clergy, on 
questions of this kind, will always have great weight : mis- 
sionaries will effect comparatively little if it be not seen with 



1 Acts xvi. 4, 5. 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA. 



243 



what they are connected, or whence they are sent ; and any 
enormous disproportion between the provision which may be 
made for the maintenance of religion among ourselves, and for 
the teaching of it to the heathen, will carry upon the very face 
of it a confession, that the subject altogether is of less import- 
ance in the judgment of some among us than of others. It is, in 
truth, a question in which much, in the commencement at least, 
must depend upon externals : as the minds of these people are 
constituted, and perhaps most minds not habituated to abstrac- 
tion, they must see before they can understand, or will even en- 
quire. If we err, it shoul d not be on the side of simplicity. In the 
early times, as we learn from Origen T , the heathen would ask 
the Christians, where were their temples ? which were compa- 
ratively few and mean. The answer might have been, that the 
Christians then were poor. Whatever has been done among 
ourselves in this way, has undoubtedly contributed to the 
change of sentiment among the heathen ; and a proportionate 
effect may be expected from what may be done hereafter. 
The Christian measures of Constantine, on his conversion, 
may be ascribed to the influence of his adviser Eusebius ; 
they w r ere, therefore, such as the judgment and extensive 
experience of that great man recommended, and they were 
principally the building of churches 2 , and a provision for the 
better observance of the Lord's day.' 3 

The question, then, of cur church establishment brings us 
upon our proper ground. At our last meeting I had occasion 
to notice the signal successes by which this portion of the 
British empire had been extended, and its power and resources 
consolidated; and I ventured to express a hope that this cir- 
cumstance, added to the increased interest upon the subject 
of religion at home, would be found propitious to the ecclesi- 
astical establishment of British India. At that moment, too, 
it was known to be the wish of our illustrious ruler to erect a 
structure which would have been not unworthy of this splen- 
did and daily improving capital, and would have impressed 
the nations around us with some idea of the honour paid to 
religion in Europe. The debt of gratitude due to the design 
is not lessened by its indefinite postponement. Of religious 

• Contra Celsum, p. 389. Ed. Spencer. 

2 Theodoret, Eccl. Hist. I 15. 

3 Eusebius de Vita Const, iv. 18. 

P 2 



244 



A CHARGE TO 



edifices, however, destined for common use, several have been 
raised, or are in progress in this archdeaconry and in that of 
Bombay ; and none of them, perhaps, is more important than 
one, of which the work is now far advanced, together with a 
school to be attached to it 1 , in a populous quarter of this city; 
yet I have still to lament the want of chaplains in this part of 
my diocese. It is something to my individual feeling to be 
conscious that I have not failed to represent this want as my 
duty required 2 : this, however, is no alleviation of the public 
evil; we have considerable bodies of Christians, and those too 
our own countrymen, who are at this moment without the sa- 
craments or the common offices of religion. Things are, in- 
deed, in some respects worse that at the period of my repre- 
sentation : a vast accession of territory has been naturally the 
occasion of forming new stations, for which, however, no re- 
ligious provision, so far as appears, has been made. 

On every account, then, both as it respects ourselves and the 
heathen, ought we to be zealous for the strength, and effi- 
ciency, and credit of our establishment. With respect to our 
own people the case is plain : if Christians any where need a 
regular ministry, and the public offices of religion, and the 
checks and restraints which arise from a diligent inculcation 
of the Word of God, and the appointed means and aids by 
which divine truth, ever open to the inroads of sciolism, and 
indifference, and voluptuousness, is maintained in the mind and 
heart, it is assuredly in India : and with repect to the natives, 
much as they now hear of our religion, they will look to autho- 
rity ; and if they observe that the church is either weak or 
supine, deficient in its means, or remiss in its duties, they will 
draw the obvious conclusion, and act accordingly. The esta- 
blishment, therefore, must be, if anything, as the heart or soul 
of our religious system, from which Christians may derive 
a warmth and energy, to be gradually diffused by its genial 
influence amidst all around them. 

In what, however, will your zeal consist ? The zeal I would 
recommend is nothing more than what arises out of our so- 
lemn engagements ; out of the choice which we have made of 
our profession ; out of conviction of the truth of the doc- 

1 St. James s school is built out of funds placed at the disposal of the Bishop of 
Calcutta ; especially, a legacy of SCO/, from the late Captain Henry Oafce. 
- See former Charge, 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA. 



245 



trines to which we have subscribed, and of the authority of 
the discipline which we have pledged ourselves to maintain 5 
in short, out of the common integrity which disdains to receive 
the wages of a service not cordially performed and approved. 

And how shall it be exercised ? I might say briefly, in 
maintaining its principles, and in exhibiting their connexion 
with the great work of promoting order and charity in this 
world, and salvation in another ; for this alone is consistent : 
or if there be any who are zealous for the maintenance of our 
establishment, without reference to the true object of all esta- 
blishments, the general well-being of Christians who live 
under them, they will never, with God's blessing, find in me 
an apologist. But to speak more distinctly as to the mainte- 
nance of what are usually called church principles : there may 
have been times and places in which it would have been su- 
perfluous to enlarge upon such a topic, but I cannot think 
the exception applicable to the present time, or to the country 
in which we live. What, in fact, is generally known here 
upon the subject, or can be known, but by a temperate and 
discreet inculcation of it? All sects and denominations of 
Christians among us receive an encouragement and support 
which is nearly indiscriminate. Little distinction seems to be 
made in respect of the church, except that it is established by 
law: it is not sufficiently considered, that such establishment 
Is incidental, not essential to its pretensions ; or that its claims 
to acceptance rest entirely upon its being a true and apostoli- 
cal branch of the church of Christ. We hold, that all men 
may not administer the sacraments, or authoritatively expound 
the Word of God ; and if not all, then they only to whom the 
commission was given or transmitted. In short, following 
Scripture and the primitive records, we distinguish the church 
as a society from merely voluntary societies in which they, who 
would accomplish any purpose, may appoint and create their 
own officers, and subject themselves to their rule. This dis- 
tinction will not need to be maintained among those who have 
attended to the constitution of the church as founded by 
Christ; but subjects of this kind are not always familiar even 
to cultivated minds ; by some, as we know, all difference in 
the two cases is openly denied, and the perplexity winch they 
thus occasion they want not the worldly wisdom to turn to 
their own account. 

r 3 



A CHARGE TO 



But, then, what is to be said for charity? for much, no 
doubt, is due to it; and no conclusions can be right which do 
not recognize its claims. All apprehensions on this score 
must surely arise out of misconception, as if charity were as- 
sociated with laxity of principle, or were even a part of it ; the 
very contrary of which is the fact. Charity is good, and de- 
serves the name so long as we hold it in the truth ; but as the 
truth becomes indifferent to us or doubtful, what we take to 
be charity loses its virtue as one of the Christian graces, and 
even its very nature : it is no better than the prodigality of 
those who give away to any who ask what they themselves do 
not value. It is preposterous to talk, as some do, of the 
charity and liberality of men, who hold that all churches 
and all sects rest upon much the same credentials, though 
such, no doubt, will be lenient even to the worst of errors. 
Charity, in the very idea of it, is that which makes some sacri- 
fice : this will hold universally, and, of course, in questions of 
religion : if it " believeth all things," it is candid in its allow- 
ance for early prejudices and disadvantages; which still, how- 
ever, it considers to be such : if it " hopeth all things," it still 
feels that much is at present wanting ; and if it " endureth 
all things," it guards against being betrayed into ill-will to- 
wards persons, while it laments their principles ; but these 
sentiments have obviously no place, where there is not in the 
mind a settled system of what it reveres as truth. 

But I have remarked, that our zeal will not be shown to 
any good purpose in the maintenance of principles, if we do not 
exhibit their efficacy in our practice, and their connection with 
the objects, for which Christ founded his church upon earth r 
and this leads me to speak to you very briefly, in conclu- 
sion, on the subject of your duties. The general character 
and estimation of the clergy, small as is their number, is still 
a matter of incalculable importance : and on this, probably, 
more than on any other cause, the wished-for increase of our 
establishment, will ultimately depend. Already, as I am well 
assured, a desire is felt by many of the residents at stations, 
where there is no chaplain, to have the services and so- 
ciety of a clergyman ; though this feeling be not so gene- 
rally expressed, as perhaps were to be wished. Indepen- 
dently, however, of this circumstance, I must remind you, 
what duties devolve on those, who are actually employed, 



THE CLERGY AT CALCUTTA. 24<7 

and also who are the objects to be benefited. It should 
seem, indeed, hardly possible to overrate the importance of 
a zealous and pious clergy in England ; but yet in some 
measure they seem to be even more needed here. At home, 
the system by which religion is dispensed through the 
country, and morals inculcated, and social order maintained, 
has acquired a momentum : and if they, whose duty it is 
to keep it in action, should for awhile relax their efforts, it 
would not immediately stop : but here the system is hardly 
in operation, we have to communicate to it the first impulse, 
and to overcome its inertia ; and the impediments to the 
establishment of that order, without which nothing consi- 
derable can be accomplished, are peculiar and embarrass- 
ing : I am entitled thus to speak, when I so deeply feel them. 
It should be considered, moreover, what classes of persons 
are frequently the objects of your care : they are not the 
inhabitants of parishes, as in England, where perhaps there 
has long been a resident clergyman, where the population 
is stationary, and among whom religious associations have 
taken root; but a fluctuating society, with some of whom the 
very foundations of religion are to be laid. Among the 
seniors there are many, who arrived in the country when 
the subject had not attracted much public notice, and who 
may not since have had frequent opportunities of hearing 
it discussed, or been prompted to private enquiry : of the 
juniors, some have experienced neglect in that part of edu- 
cation, however well they may have been qualified for their 
particular branch of service; and happy are they, if they 
should here have the means of repairing it. But especially 
do a large body of soldiery, whose habits cannot be presumed 
to be religious, call for the unremitting exertions of the 
chaplain : at a military station, the public service of the 
church, and the common offices of religion, will be the 
lightest part of his duty : it is in the hospital, if any where, 
that he will appear as the messenger of peace, and as an am- 
bassador of Christ. Nor ought I, in any of these Addresses, 
to overlook the paramount subject of schools: a Christian 
school for the children of the poor, and in connexion with the 
church, if well conducted and superintended, is among the most 
valuable institutions with which this country can be blessed. 
You would, then, my Reverend Brethren, exceedingly 

r 4 



248 



A CHARGE, &C. 



mistake your situation, and ill appreciate what it demands of 
you, if you could for a moment suppose it to be compatible 
with listlessness and indifference, or one which it is easy ade- 
quately to fill. The qualities, in fact, to be desired in the In- 
dian clergy, are such as are not any where commonly found 
in combination; — sincere and consistent piety, — laborious 
and patient habits, — a talent of holding Christian con- 
versation with persons of all classes, — a clear and compre- 
hensive view of the evidences of religion, — attachment to 
order and discipline, — and a competent acquaintance with 
the history of the church of Christ, and with the constitu- 
tion of our own i to say nothing of those scriptural attain- 
ments, which are every where to be expected in the clergy, 
though here, from the circumstances of the country, they are 
more particularly needed. Let me, then, beseech you to 
measure yourselves by some such standard, and if any fall 
far short of it, that they endeavour to reach it : I am confi- 
dent, that it is not taken too high, if here you would really 
and essentially serve the cause of Christ. But you will not 
mistake me so far as to suppose, that I would cast you, even 
in thought, upon your own sufficiency : if the grace of God 
be ever needed, (and human weakness is the great lesson of 
human life,) it is surely by ourselves : humanly speaking, every 
thing is against us ; we are called upon to work a change in 
the habits, the hearts, and the very nature of men, in cir- 
cumstances of peculiar difficulty, and to build up a Zion unto 
God in the waste places of the earth. But for these things 
who is sufficient, unless the Spirit of God be with him ? 
Prayer, therefore, habitual prayer, is to you and to myself the 
only resource ; prayer that God will enlighten and strengthen 
us, and fill our hearts with the love of Christ, and zeal for His 
glory, and enable us to give an account of the souls com- 
mitted to us, in the hope of mercy on our own. 



AN 

ADDRESS 

TO 

THE CHILDREN OF THE SEVERAL SCHOOLS 
IN CALCUTTA, 

WHO WERE CATECHISED IN THE CATHEDRAL 
DURING LENT 1817. 

DELIVERED 

On Wednesday in Passion- Week, 

By THOMAS FANSHAW, 

BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



ADDRESS 

TO 

THE CHILDREN OF THE SCHOOLS IN 
CALCUTTA, 



CHILDREN BELOVED IN JESUS CHRIST; 

You are now to be dismissed for the present season, from 
further attendance in this place, for the purpose of being 
questioned and instructed in the Catechism : but I am so 
well satisfied with your general progress, and with the 
answers which most of you have given to the questions put to 
you by your ministers, respecting the meaning of what you 
have been taught, that I wish for your encouragement to 
notice it thus publicly, and to express to you my approbation. 
I consider you, indeed, though a small, yet an important part 
of my charge : my interest in your behalf is greatly excited 
by your tender age : our blessed faith is never more amiable 
than when its holy truths are heard to proceed from the lips 
of the young : " God," we read, " hath out of the mouths of 
babes and sucklings perfected praise:" (Matt. xxi. 16.) His 
merciful dealing with a fallen race is never more visible, than 
in leading children to feel their dependence upon Him, to 
supplicate his protection, to endeavour to learn his will, and 
thus to lay the foundation of their future welfare, both tem- 
poral and eternal. I will then, with God's blessing, without 
which neither you nor I can do any good thing, offer you 
some admonitions, relating to the work in which we have 
been engaged : and this it is my wish to do in the plainest 
language and most familiar way, that so you may all of you, 
with the exception perhaps of the very young, be able to 
understand me. 



c 252 AN ADDRESS TO THE CHILDREN 

You have said in repeating the Catechism, that " you 
heartily thank your Heavenly Father for having called you to 
this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ your Saviour: and 
that you pray unto God to give you his grace, that you may 
continue in the same unto your lives' end." In these words 
so much is contained, and it is so easy at your time of life to 
repeat them without fully considering what they mean, that I 
am anxious to impress them in all their force on your under- 
standings and your hearts ; being convinced, that if you 
perfectly comprehend them, and deeply feel all which they 
are intended to convey, you will, with God's help, learn to 
love the Gospel of Christ, and be constantly thankful to God 
for having given you a knowledge of it, and will not fail 
regularly and unceasingly to pray for the assistance of His 
Holy Spirit, to keep you in the way, unto which God's 
mercy hath called you. 

You say, then, that you thank your Heavenly Father, for 
" having called you to this state of salvation, through Jesus 
Christ." Now let me desire you, my good children, to con- 
sider what these words mean. It is very plain from them, 
that by having been baptized, you were brought into a state 
of salvation ; for when you speak of this state of salvation, 
you mean the state in which you were placed at your baptism. 
You had not been speaking of any thing else, but still you 
may not have considered what such a state of salvation means. 
Let me remind you, then, that by nature you were not placed 
in a state, in which we have any assurance of God that men 
should be saved and brought unto life eternal. The Scrip- 
ture has revealed to us, that the fall, as it is called, occa- 
sioned by the perverseness and disobedience of our first 
parents, whom God had created to innocence and happiness, 
has entirely altered the condition of mankind : it has reduced 
them to a state of misery and ruin : their natural lot is now 
sin and death : the heart of man is become corrupt, and is 
strongly inclined to evil ; and the natural consequence of 
evil is the anger of a just and righteous God. You must not 
suppose, that any of us are by nature in a better condition, 
than that which I have described to you. " The Scripture," 
as St. Paul remarks, " hath concluded all under sin," (Gal. 
iii. 22.) that is to say, it has taught us, that we are all to be 
considered, as being by nature in a sinful state, and that we 



OF THE SCHOOLS IN CALCUTTA. 253 

can only expect to be dealt with accordingly. And in another 
place he tells us, (1 Cor. xv. 22.) that " in Adam all die;" 
meaning, that through the corruption of our nature derived 
from Adam, which inclines us to sin, we have all become 
subject to death ; and that it is through Christ alone, through 
what he has done for us, and our being permitted to partake 
in its benefits, that we can any of us hope to be " made 
alive." 

When you say, then, that you thank God " for having 
called you to this state of salvation through Christ" by 
baptism, which is a sacrament ordained by Christ himself, 
and blessed by Him, as w 7 e trust to the purpose for which he 
ordained it, you mean to thank God for having taken you 
from the miserable condition, into which you were actually 
born : you mean to thank him for having snatched you from 
impending ruin, and embraced you with the arms of his 
mercy. You acknowledge that he has placed you in a state, 
in which you have been saved from the danger of the past, 
and may be saved from all future dangers, if it be not your 
own fault. The state, into which you have been thus admitted, 
gives you very great advantages ; it has brought you into 
covenant with God : you have become more immediately His 
children : you are made partakers of His grace : the state in 
which you are placed, leads you to a knowledge of your 
duty, and offers you assistance in the performance of it ; and it 
gives you an interest in the benefits arising from Christ's death : 
so that if you steadfastly believe in Him, and show your love 
of Him by .keeping His commandments, (John xiv. 15.) you 
will be found at the last day in the number of those, who have 
been saved by His precious blood. 

But it often happens, that the best way of explaining any 
thing, especially to young people, is by illustration or simili- 
tude. You are all acquainted with the history of the flood 
or deluge, and the manner in which Noah and his family were 
saved in the ark. The service, which was used at the time 
of your being baptized, speaks of your being " admitted into 
the ark of Christ's church:" this similitude is borrowed 
from Holy Scripture: (1 Pet. iii. 20.) and there cannot, 
perhaps, be a better way of conveying to your minds, what it 
is, for which you profess to be thankful. We read in the 
history of the deluge, that " all flesh had corrupted his way 



£54 



AN ADDRESS TO THE CHILDREN 



upon the earth;" (Gen. vi. 12.) but that notwithstanding, 
" Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord :" (Gen. vi. 8.) 
he and his family were admitted into the ark, and escaped 
destruction from those waters, which swallowed up the rest 
of the world. — Another similitude, which was used upon 
the same occasion, and is also borrowed from Scripture, 
(1 Cor. x. 2.) is that of the passage of the children of Israel 
through the Red Sea, which is said to " figure baptism :" for 
though the sea was " on their right hand and on their left," 
and destroyed the whole host of Pharaoh, yet the Israelites 
went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground. (Exod. 
xiv. 22.) 

You see, then, Christian children, how the merciful provi- 
dence of God can deliver us in the midst of the greatest dan- 
gers, when we conform ourselves to his will and follow his 
guidance : but no dangers are so great, as those which assail 
the souls of men ; and it is from these, and not from any harm 
which may hurt the body, that your Saviour offers to deliver 
you, and to conduct you through " the waves of a trouble- 
some world." Having called you to baptism, he has received 
you into the ark of his church : but do not suppose, that you 
have therefore nothing to do on your own part, or that 
because you have been called to a state of salvation, you are 
therefore actually saved. This would be a fatal mistake ; it 
is no such thing : God has called you to a state, in which 
there are many helps to salvation, if they be duly applied and 
used ; and in which you may assuredly be saved, if you 
heartily desire and earnestly strive after salvation ; but no- 
thing more. God hath taken you under his protection ; He 
has received you into the ark, but you yourselves may make 
his mercy to be of none effect : he, who is admitted into the 
strongest ship, is liable to perish in a thousand ways, while 
the ship itself sustains no harm : and we know, that though 
the children of Israel passed the Red Sea without any loss, 
yet that many of them afterwards offended God, and " were 
overthrown in the wilderness." (1 Cor. x. 5.) Nothing, but 
the continual grace of God, can save you from the like dis- 
asters : the voyage of life is before you : you have still a wide 
wilderness to pass, before you can reach the promised land : 
yet the same Divine Mercy, which has thus far favoured you, 
especially in making you members of the church of Christ, 



OF THE SCHOOLS IN CALCUTTA. 255 

may and will be prevailed upon, by continual supplication for 
Christ's sake, to preserve you in a state of salvation unto 
your lives' end. But this leads me to explain to you what is 
meant, when you are taught to answer, that you pray to God, 
that he will give you His grace, that you may be thus pre- 
served. 

You are to know, then, my good children, that unless the 
same Almighty Being who has called you to baptism, and has 
watched over the years of your helpless infancy, and who has 
brought you up thus far in his " nurture and admonition," 
still continue his goodness towards you, all which has been 
done, will be lost : you will be no better for it, and you may 
even be the worse : for God will judge us all by the advan- 
tages which he has afforded us ; and he who throws them 
away, will be brought to a much severer account than he 
who never had them. You ask, then, for the grace of God : 
may you never cease to use this prayer ! and to this end 
consider what that grace is, and how much you need it. I 
have already spoken to you of the corruption of our nature, 
as strongly inclining us to evil : and how many temptations 
and inducements to evil present themselves in the world ! 
At your tender age you cannot be acquainted with a thou- 
sandth part of them : and I pray that the Almighty may 
never suffer you to be exposed to any severe trials : yet it is 
but right to put you upon your guard, and to give you notice 
of the dangers which threaten you. Already, indeed, you 
are aware, that even children are very apt, and are often 
tempted to do what is wrong : they are sometimes addicted 
to improper language, to falsehood, to ingratitude, to cruelty, 
and to bad habits of different kinds ; all of which shew you, 
that even children cannot do what is right, without the grace 
of God. But if this be the case at your time of life, when 
the corruption of your nature has not acquired its full 
strength, and you are under the guidance and control of 
persons, who are constantly endeavouring to keep you in the 
right way, you may well imagine, that you will be exposed to 
much greater danger, when you enter into the world : you 
will then probably be left much more to yourselves, and you 
will have least of direction and advice, when you shall need 
it most ; you will meet with people, who perhaps were never 
taught to think much upon God and the concerns of the 



256 



AN ADDRESS TO THE CHILDREN 



soul ; and the little, which they learnt in their childhood, 
they will have nearly forgotten. You will find them living 
without any appearance of religion ; and given up to such 
habits and practices as usually follow, when men think of 
nothing but the present life. Such persons you should en- 
deavour to avoid: but yet in the actual condition of the 
world, this may not always be possible. Every man may, 
indeed, choose his particular friends and companions ; and he 
will generally fix upon such as most nearly resemble himself: 
but hardly any one is so independent, as not to be obliged 
to have constant dealings, and to be much in company with 
persons, whose lives and opinions he very much disapproves. 
They are, perhaps, fellow-labourers, who are joined with him 
in the same duties ; or they may even be connected with him 
by still nearer ties, and be of his own kindred. Thus, then, 
it may be your misfortune to be daily exposed to the influence 
of bad example ; from the effects of which no one can be long 
preserved, unless good principles have been deeply planted in 
his mind, and his resolution be much stronger than it can be 
by nature : from such influence nothing can save you, but 
the more powerful influence of the grace of God. Wicked 
advice is not half so dangerous as wicked example ; and in 
general it has little effect, till wicked example has prepared 
us to receive it. You would be offended and shocked, ^haps, 
by being at once advised to commit a crime : but M 
hardly need to be advised to it, when you had 
tomed to see the crime committed by others, is 
by those with whom you were in any way connects 
would fall into the same habits, almost without knowi^ 
and when you had once contracted them, you would feel bn. 
little uneasiness under them, and might never think of shak- 
ing them off. So great is the danger from bad example. 

But besides the perils, to which you will be exposed from 
the wickedness of others, you have almost as much to 
dread from yourselves : you may not understand what I mean. 
Recollect, then, what I said to you of the naturally evil dis- 
positions of the heart. You feel, perhaps, and may think 
that you shall always feel, a desire to be good and happy ; 
and so long as you shall really desire it, and ask God's blessing 
to assist you, you will be in little danger : but how easily do 
such desires give way to others of a different kind ! Men 



OF THE SCHOOLS IN CALCUTTA. Q5J 



are apt to think that they may be happy without being good, 
or even endeavouring to be so : they think that riches will 
make them happy, or the being great and admired, or indulg- 
ing themselves in luxury, pleasure, and intemperance : and 
the moment they form these notions, they begin to drive away 
from their minds all thoughts of God. They soon forget to 
" commit their works unto the Lord," according to the advice 
of Solomon, <£ that their thoughts may be established," 
(Prov.xvi. 3.) or to pray to Him, that His "will maybe 
done:" (Matt. vi. 10.) They set up their own will against 
that of God ; and if they do not pray, (for they may not have 
so much folly and presumption,) they secretly wish that their 
own will may be done : and thus quitting the guidance of 
Him, who alone can know what is really good for us, they 
follow their own inventions and imaginations, and never find 
out, till perhaps it is too late, that these do not lead to any 
real happiness. You are all of you, I am aware, too young 
to see that this is the true state of the case : you cannot at 
present really know how deceitful the heart is, and how men 
are misled to their ruin : but you are most of you old enough 
to have observed, that those wlio are older than yourselves, 
know a great deal more than yourselves ; and when you have 
every reason to believe that they wish you well, you should 
earnestly listen to their warning voice, and be thankful. 

The danger, then, of which I have been speaking, is not so 
much from evil example, though that will greatly increase it, 
as it is from yourselves ; from the evil principles and wicked 
desires which lurk in every breast, unless they be subdued 
and driven away by Divine grace. A man, who lives apart 
from the world, (which few persons, however, have the means 
of doing, nor is it to be desired that they should,) if he be 
ill disposed, may be as wicked, though he cannot be so mis- 
chievous, as if he lived in a large society. He will do less 
harm to others, but may do quite as much to himself: he 
may live in utter forgetfulness of God, neither thanking him 
for any benefits he has received, nor trusting to him for pro- 
tection, nor performing any acts of kindness and charity to 
his neighbours, but caring only for his own ease and indulg- 
ence, as if he had not a soul, which required to be saved. 
Men may fall into this dreadful state, without being misled 
by bad advice, or seduced by bad example: it is quite 

s 



258 



AN ADDRESS TO THE CHILDREN 



enough, that they once fall into a habit of disregarding God, 
and forsake their only all-powerful Friend ; for if we forsake 
him, he will also forsake us, and leave us to the natural 
consequences of our own folly and ingratitude. 

I now hope, that what has been said, has been sufficient 
to show you, that there is the greatest necessity for praying, 
as you do, that God would keep you in this state of salvation. 
You see how easily you may fall away from it : you are not 
safe for a day nor an hour, unless God should watch over 
you, and shield you from harm : from without and from 
within you are exposed to danger : your natural dispositions 
are directly contrary to your duties. You may compare life 
to a river, upon which you are required to proceed towards 
its fountain-head or source : naturally the current carries 
you downward ; but you are required to struggle against it, 
and to overcome it ; which, however, you cannot do, without 
great strength and unceasing efforts. So also will you find 
it in your Christian course : if you are not supplied with suffi- 
cient strength; — if you are not constantly encouraged to ex- 
ert it; — if you are not supported and refreshed under your 
fatigues; — if you are not cautioned against the rocks and 
shoals which lie in your way; — and if you are not animated 
with the hope of finally attaining your object, you will make 
no progress, but will rather go back. But this strength, this 
encouragement, this refreshing support, this providential 
protection, and this animating hope, are all of them, my dear 
children, from God : they are all of them but so many differ- 
ent ways, in which his Holy Spirit carries us through 
temptations, and trials, and sorrows, and enabling us to 
overcome the world and our own hearts, conducts us to the 
source of life and happiness, even unto God. 

What is it, then, which I would have you to do ? I would 
have you to pray constantly and earnestly for God's grace 
and for such assistances, as those which I have just described ; 
and let me assure you, that prayer, sincere and humble, yet 
earnest prayer, is the only way of obtaining them : our blessed 
Saviour has taught and commanded all men to pray ; and no 
good thing will be given to those who will not ask it. I have 
no doubt, that all of you, at your several schools, have 
morning and evening prayers : but let me entreat you not to 
regard them as a matter of form, and still less as a task. 

16 



OF THE SCHOOLS IN CALCUTTA. 



259 



Consider what they really mean : if you do not understand 
them, desire to have them explained to you ; and then you 
will be qualified to join in them with all your hearts and 
souls. It is thus that by God's grace you will acquire good 
dispositions, and grow up in them : you will gradually feel 
the comforts of religion: it will make you contented and. 
happy, whatever be the station to which God may call you : 
and while so many are growing up in the practice of vice and 
wickedness, you will be learning every day to fear and to love 
God, and to conform yourselves to his will, and to trust to 
his mercy, through Christ. With such habits early formed, 
and growing continually stronger under the fostering influence 
of your Heavenly Father, you will live and die in that state 
of salvation, to which he hath called you, and be forgiven all 
your sins, and be happy for evermore with your Saviour. 

If Providence should spare my life another year, I purpose 
to hold my second Confirmation in this place : and I shall 
expect that many of you, who appear already to be of suffi- 
cient age, will avail yourselves of such an opportunity, and 
take upon you your baptismal vows. What is more particu- 
larly intended by that rite, and what you will be required to 
know and to do, you will be told in sufficient time ; and every 
assistance will be afforded you. For the present let me only 
desire you, my good children, to attend to and to remember 
my advice : pray unto God, and endeavour to live in that state 
of mind and heart, which prayer supposes and requires ; — - 
shun and detest every bad habit ; — do nothing which you 
know or believe to be wrong'; — be dutiful and affectionate to 
your parents and friends, obedient to your teachers, rever- 
ent to your ministers, grateful to those who do you any 
service, or even wish you well, and kind one to another, and 
to all with whom you have any concern : but in this and in 
every good purpose, you will still recollect, that you must 
pray for help from God. 

Before I conclude, I should acknowledge to the masters and 
mistresses of the several schools my high satisfaction with 
the regular and numerous attendance of the young people, 
as well as with the pains which must have been taken to 
produce so much proficiency : though I doubt not that their 
own gratification in the result has been felt by them to be no 
light reward, and it certainly must far surpass in value any 

s 2 



260 AN ADDRESS TO THE CHILDREN, &C. 

human commendation. After this proof of their attention to 
the subject, it would be superfluous to detain them with re- 
flections upon the vast importance of the religious instruction 
of youth : it is plain that they have not fallen into any of the 
prevailing errors upon this point, but are fully sensible that 
the only method, upon which any reliance can be placed, of 
'inging men generally to the knowledge and practice of the 
Gospel, is to train them in its principles while they are young. 
The summary of Christian faith and duty in which the pupils 
have now been instructed, is excellently adapted to the pur- 
pose : it explains the mode and the terms of their admission 
into the covenant of grace : it sets before them what God has 
required them to believe, and has commanded them to do : it 
teaches the most perfect form of prayer; and it enters into the 
subject of the Christian sacraments, as far as is suited to the 
capacities of the young. The Church Catechism is, therefore, 
an epitome of Christian knowledge: and young persons pos- 
sessing that comprehensive acquaintance with it, which some 
of the pupils have shown, are well prepared for any further 
pursuit of religious studies, to which the blessing of God may 
lead them, while they are already provided with the best 
preservative against vice and irreligion, which human care 
can supply. I beseech the teachers, then, to persevere in 
this salutary course of duty, not doubting that He "who 
giveth the increase," will crown their labours with abundant 
fruits. Their pupils, we may hope, will thus become a com- 
fort to their friends, and to all with whom they are now, or 
may hereafter be connected ; and their temporal and eternal 
welfare will be most effectually advanced : but the good, which 
will be done, may not rest there : in the present state of this 
country, if there be any thing which may be expected, with 
the blessing of God, to produce extensive effects, it is to be 
sought in the steady piety and Christian habits of the com- 
paratively few, who have happily been called to a state of 
salvation, through Jesus Christ. 



A PRAYER, 



WHICH MAY BE SAID BY A CHILD AT ANY TIME. 



Almighty God, my Heavenly Father, I fall down 
before thee to thank thee for thy goodness, which has pre- 
served me through my helpless infancy to the present day : 
but especially, that thou hast called me to a state of salvation, 
through Christ my Saviour, and hast given me a knowledge 
of my duty, and hast taught me to approach thee in prayer. 
O Lord, make me ever to know and to feel, that I am na- 
turally corrupt and sinful, and that I can do no good thing 
but through thy merciful assistance. Do thou, then, by thy 
Holy Spirit, vouchsafe to be present with me, and to succour 
me, while I shall live. In my childhood direct my thoughts 
to thee, my Creator and Protector : suffer me not to fall into 
wicked habits, or to indulge in any wicked thought : turn 
away from me whatever may endanger my salvation : teach 
me to dread thy displeasure, and to seek thy favour above 
every thing which the world can bestow : suffer me not to be 
corrupted and seduced by evil example, and deliver me from 
those temptations, which might lead me into sin. And if it 
shall please thy providence to preserve me beyond these the 
days of my childhood, grant that in every succeeding year I 
may grow in grace and in the knowledge of my Lord and 
Saviour, in the faith of a Christian, and in the practice of 
whatever is acceptable in thy sight, until it seem good to thee 
to call me away from this mortal state : and then receive me, 
O Lord, unto thyself, forgiving me all my sins, through the 
only merits of Him, who died for the sins of the world, Jesus 
Christ, my Redeemer. Amen. 



AN 

ADDRESS 

DELIVERED TO 

THE PERSONS CONFIRMED AT THE 
TRIENNIAL CONFIRMATION, 

H OLDEN IN 

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CALCUTTA, 
A. D. MDCCCXVIII. 

By THOMAS FANSHAW, 

BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



s 4 



AN 

ADDRESS, &c. 



BELOVED IN JESUS CHRIST, 

On an occasion like the present, when you have been en- 
gaged in one of the most solemn acts of your lives, and your 
hearts may be supposed to be sensible to all the impressions 
connected with it, I cannot but avail myself of the oppor- 
tunity, before I dismiss you, of offering you a few words of 
affectionate admonition. None of you, I trust, after having 
been presented to me a& duly prepared to receive confirm- 
ation, can need any further instruction as to the meaning and 
object of this rite. You all of you know, that you came hither 
to ratify, in your own persons, the vows made for you at your 
baptism, and to bind yourselves here in the presence of the 
church, to believe and to do whatever was promised for you, 
when you could not promise for yourselves : and in this holy 
work, as the appointed minister of the ordinance, I have in- 
voked on you the Divine blessing, and have endeavoured to 
assist you with my prayers. All these things you know: but 
what we know and understand, we do not always sufficiently 
feel ; we do not suffer it to sink into our hearts ; we do not 
stop to reflect upon it ; we are content to understand it ; and 
we act, as if nothing more were required. 

My object, then, in thus addressing you, is to prevail upon 
you, if happily by God's assistance this may be done, to con- 
sider deeply and seriously within yourselves, how much you 
will have to answer for before God, if you do not earnestly 
endeavour to fulfil the solemn engagement into which you have 
this day entered ; if you treat what has been done as a form 
or ceremony, in which your hearts have no participation. I 
hope better things of you ; and I pray that God may render 
this work, which cannot be considered as a ceremony^ 
conducive to your eternal salvation. 



266 



AN ADDRESS 



Reflect, I beseech you, that you have this day personally 
entered into covenant with your Maker : you have bound your- 
selves to certain conditions, on which alone through Christ you 
hope for his mercy: you have virtually declared, that unless you 
shall renounce the devil and all his works; that unless you shall 
believe the articles of the Christian faith, and unless you shall 
keep God's commandments, you cannot ordinarily hope for his 
favour, however after failing in any of these points you may 
obtain forgiveness by repentance: you acknowledge, indeed, 
that it is only through the merits of your Redeemer, that the 
best services of your faith and obedience will be accepted : 
but you also acknowledge, that these services are entirely due, 
and you solemnly pledge yourselves to offer them, praying to 
God for help, 

Seeing then, beloved, that you have made an engagement to 
this effect, with that great and awful Being, " who is not 
mocked," (Gal. vi. 7.) and " who is able to destroy both body 
and soul in hell," (Matt. x. 28.) let me offer you a few words 
of advice, in the plainest manner I am able. 

I. In the first place, let me suggest a few hints upon the 
subject of good resolutions. If ever we can be supposed to 
resolve upon our conduct for the future, it will probably be 
at the time of, or previously to confirmation : but in what 
way are good resolutions formed ? We seem sometimes to 
make them, when in fact we do nothing more than feel a mo- 
mentary uneasiness respecting our condition. We are conscious 
that all is not right within us : we perceive that our lives do 
not accord with the law of God : we are convinced that we 
cannot hope for his favour without great amendment; and 
that the course we are pursuing must, in the end, make us 
miserable. People, who entertain, though it be but for a 
moment, such thoughts as these, easily persuade themselves, 
that they have made resolutions, which will entirely alter 
their future habits and course of life, and carry them safely 
through dangers and temptations. But let me assure you, 
that if your resolves go no further than this, they will avail 
you nothing. All that has past w r ithin you is the mere com- 
mencement of the work : you have not resolved upon amend- 
ment; you have merely reflected in a transient way, that 
amendment is required. How, then, shall I counsel you in 
this momentous crisis ? The counsel of man is unavailing, if 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 



it move you not to seek the Divine assistance ; to cast your- 
selves on the Divine mercy ; and to surrender your hearts and 
wills and wishes to the Divine disposal ; to resolve without the 
grace of God is as vain, as the attempt to stem a torrent 
without muscular strength, or to fly without wings ; it is to 
say, that we will surmount insuperable difficulties. We know 
from the apostle, that " it is God which worketh in us both 
to will and to do of his good pleasure :" (Phil.ii, 13.) And we 
are also assured, that he will t€ give the Holy Spirit to those 
that ask him." (Luke xi. 13.) 

To form good resolutions, therefore, is not merely, as some 
of you may imagine, to think seriously on the subject of amend- 
ment, but it is in humble and hearty prayer to give ourselves 
up unto God ; to beseech him to subdue within us every evil 
desire and propensity; to strengthen whatever is good and holy ; 
and to be evermore our Father, our Guide, and our Com- 
forter ; so to influence our wills, that they may accord with 
his will, and that our affections may be w T eaned from the 
world, and amidst the changes and chances of life be fixed 
upon a happier existence. To form good resolutions, is to 
abhor and renounce all that is evil within us, beseeching God 
to give us strength to struggle through all our trials, and 
finally to overcome the world through faith in Christ. All 
resolutions, which come short of this, are vain and fruitless, 
and serve only to delude you into a belief, that you have 
done something in the work of your salvation, when in truth 
you have done nothing. 

II. But, in the second place, let me caution you against 
the notion, that the best resolutions (and many such, I trust, 
have been formed this day) are at all to be relied upon, unless 
they are continually renewed. Let me advise you to con- 
sider the business of religion, and of all that relates to it, as 
one, in which your diligence must never be relaxed. As well 
might you expect that the body should be kept in health and 
vigour without a daily supply of food, as that religion can be 
maintained in the soul without the constant succours of Divine 
grace. You must, therefore, live in uninterrupted intercourse 
with God : you must be regular in the habit of prayer : you 
must not suffer the morning or the evening to pass without 
asking help and imploring forgiveness ; without acknowledg- 
ing past mercies, and deploring your own unworthiness. 



268 



AN ADDRESS 



Whenever men forget to pray, they evidently forget God and 
themselves ; they forget his power, his goodness, his right to 
their prayers ; and, on the other hand, their own dependence, 
their wants, and their duties. To forget to pray, is to forget 
what it is most important to us to remember, that we " live, 
and move, and have our being" (Acts xvii. 28.) in God, and 
have no hope of happiness, either temporal or eternal, but 
through his mercy. But perhaps it will be found, that they 
who have ever been accustomed to regular prayer, never for- 
get this duty, till they have frequently allowed themselves to 
omit it, on some frivolous pretence of wanting time for its due 
performance. It is certainly desirable to enjoy leisure, and 
retirement, and composure of mind, to enter into full com- 
munion with God ; but where men want these opportunities, 
he will doubtless accept their shortest prayers, provided they 
ask with fervour for such things as their welfare really de- 
mands. It is not the length of our prayers so much, as 
the frequency^ to which we should attend. But the want of 
leisure to pray is a pretence, which you should never allow to 
divert you from this duty. Such a plea, when offered by per- 
sons who find time for every thing else, must be highly offen- 
sive to God, and can never have any foundation in truth. 
What is every day, which dawns upon us, but a portion of 
that life, which is given us by our Creator ? And what are 
the duties and occupations which can claim our attention to 
the exclusion of prayer? Of acknowledgment to him, who 
has assigned us our duties, and who alone can bless our oc- 
cupations, and without whom the former have in truth no 
object, and the latter no use? But it is difficult to suppose 
a case, in which, if you deeply feel the obligation, you may 
not offer your devotions to God. If all other seclusion is 
denied you, you have probably the retirement of your place of 
rest ; or in circumstances the most unfavourable, where privacy 
is impossible, there is nothing which can restrain your secret 
aspirations unto Him, " which seeth in secret.'' (Matt. vi. 6.) 
Let me advise you, then, to resolve, but not to rest upon your 
resolves, as having in themselves any permanent strength : 
the best are good and availing, only when they are connected 
with a habit of regular prayer. When this is neglected, from 
whatever cause, be assured that religion is losing its influence 
over you ; its duties have become irksome, or, at least, indif- 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 2(>9 

ferent; whereas they ought to be, and really are, to all who 
love God, comfortable and delightful. Let every neglect, 
then, of prayer, be regarded by you as a certain proof of a 
decay of actual piety ; as a proof that the pleasures or the 
cares of the world are gaining an ascendancy in your hearts, 
which nothing can prevent from being fully established, 
but your return to the practice which you have forsaken. 
Commencing and concluding every day of your life with 
prayer, and this with all sincerity of purpose and humility of 
heart, though still you will be far from perfection, you will be 
living unto God ; the purpose of the morning and the retro- 
spect of the evening will embrace the hours that intervene ; and 
the piety of the one, and the penitence of the other, will 
impart a measure of sanctity to every passing day. 

III. But while I am speaking of prayer, let me, in the 
third place, remind you, that, as Christians, cherishing a zeal 
for the name and honour of Christ, and also for the welfare of 
your fellow-men, you will not content yourselves with any 
measure of retired and secret devotion. This is one of the 
things which must be done, while other things must not be 
left undone. (Matt, xxiii. 23.) Let no attention to private 
prayer seem to excuse you from attendance on the service of 
the church. You will sometimes, indeed, hear it said, with- 
out thought or meaning, that you may pray as fervently at 
home. Whoever tells you this, will tell you what indeed is 
true, and may yet, if you listen to him, lead you into a fatal 
error. They who talk in this manner, cannot surely under- 
stand the design and the use of public worship. Do they 
consider, that when we meet together in the church, we not 
only are acting as becomes Christians in their individual 
capacity, but we are professing (what it is important for 
others to know) our faith in Christ? Our religion could 
not be maintained among men without public assemblies. 
What effect can be produced upon others, by the secret 
prayers of the most devout, or how can it be known, that 
they are offered ? What distinction is there, visible to the 
world, between those, who pass the hours assigned for the 
service of the church, in pious and secret meditation, or in 
secular studies and pursuits ? All that can be known is, 
that they are of the number of those who, contrary to the 
Apostle's injunction, " forsake the assembling of themselves 



270 



AN ADDRESS 



together," (Heb. x. 25.) and few will doubt that secular bu- 
siness is the cause. But the public profession of our faith is 
by no means the only object of public worship ; it conduces to 
brotherly love and charity ; it not only brings together the 
high and the low in the presence of Him who is the 
maker of both, (Prov. xxii. 2.) but it connects by closer ties 
the pastor and his flock ; it keeps up a sense of Christian 
order ; it has a peculiar blessing from Christ, who has pro- 
mised to be in the midst of those who are gathered together 
in his name ; (Matt, xviii. 20.) and without it the doctrines of 
the Gospel could not be effectually taught, or men be ad- 
monished of their duties. Be assured, therefore, that there 
is no substitute for regular attendance on the service of the 
church ; it has its distinct and proper uses ; and you should 
consider yourselves as not being alive to the interests 
of Christianity, or actuated by benevolence to your brethren, 
if you can be absent from the public worship, where it 
may be had, without regret and sorrow: you should feel 
that you have lost one opportunity, (and you know not 
how few may be vouchsafed you) of promoting the glory of 
God, your own improvement, and the welfare of your fellow- 
men. 

IV. But, fourthly, there is another subject, to which it is at 
this moment peculiarly proper that I should draw your atten- 
tion. You are now permitted by the rubric of the church to 
partake of the sacrament of the Lord's supper : let me urge 
you, therefore, to avail yourselves of that privilege as soon as 
may be, and henceforward to your lives' end to be frequent in 
your attendance at the table of your Redeemer. Recollect 
that this is a solemn ordinance instituted by Christ himself, 
and imposed on all Christians without exception ; and which, 
therefore, would be binding on us all, though we saw but very 
indistinctly its design and benefits. But this is by no means 
the case : nothing is better understood by us than the intent 
and the uses of this holy sacrament. If there be any doctrine 
of our religion more prominent than all others, it is that of 
the atonement made by Christ for human guilt ; in truth, this 
doctrine is so important, that all others centre in it. Religion 
is but the method of salvation, and we are saved through the 
merits of Christ. Now to this great doctrine of atonement 
and redemption, the sacrament immediately refers ; being 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 



271 



ordained to perpetuate, by a solemn and affecting rite, the 
remembrance of the death of Christ, to impress us with ab- 
horrence of sin, which has required to be expiated by the 
sacrifice of the Son of God, and to move us to sentiments of 
adoration and praise for this wondrous act of love. The 
Lord's supper, therefore, though among the highest and 
holiest of the mysteries connected with our religion, is yet. 
plain and practical in its uses, and may be brought, in this 
respect, within the compass of the humblest understanding. 
Do we really rest our hopes of salvation on the merits of 
Christ ? We have no other ground of confidence : but yet 
we can hardly have a lively sense of the efficacy of the atone- 
ment, we may even be suspected of trusting in " the broken 
reed" (Jer. xxxvi. 6.) of our own deservings, if we habitually 
neglect this expression of our faith in Christ. It seems not 
to be natural, that any of us, who really rest our hopes of 
salvation on the sacrifice of the cross, and who consider our 
best performances as acceptable to God only through Christ, 
should be backward in signifying that such are our hopes, 
and in seeking to be strengthened in this faith. But the 
sacrament is not confined to a mere commemoration of the 
death of Christ, nor to a " shewing of the Lord's death till he 
come," (1 Cor. xi. 26.) It draws down upon us, when wor- 
thily received, fresh supplies of grace : it calls us frequently 
to the important business of self-examination and repentance : 
it moves us to new resolutions, or it strengthens those already 
made ; and it brings us together on terms of mutual charity 
and love : so that all the great objects of our religion seem to 
be combined in this benevolent and simple institution. Be 
not deceived, then, by the excuses of the many, who are seen 
to neglect it : there cannot be any siifficient reason for dis- 
obeying the command of Christ. If any, indeed, are living in 
the practice of deliberate sin, they are unfit to approach the 
sacred table : but with this consciousness of their infirmity, 
why do they not repent ? What will it avail them in the day 
of judgment, that though they did not profane the sacrament, 
yet they would not prepare themselves to receive it? You 
will endeavour, therefore, through the grace of God, to avoid 
all habits, and that course of conduct, which may involve you 
in these perplexities and dangers : following the precepts 
which I have now given you, you can never have cause to 



AN ADDRESS 



hesitate in a matter of so much importance. The best, in- 
deed, should approach with humility and a sense of their own 
tmworthiness : but humility is quite distinct from despair ; and 
a sense of unworthiness can be productive of no good, when 
we seek not to lessen it, and to render ourselves, though still 
very imperfect, yet acceptable to God through Christ. 

V. Another topic of importance to you, who are setting 
out in life, is the forming of connexions and friendships : much 
of your happiness in this world may depend upon it, and still 
more in the next. Where good principles are deeply fixed 
and matured by years, there is little need of this caution: 
men of irreligious and wicked habits are so offensive to those 
of a contrary character, that no intercourse is likely to subsist 
between them, beyond what arises from necessity. But this 
is not the case with the young. There is an easiness of tem- 
per and a warmth of heart at that early period, which are 
easily won by the first offers of friendship or kindness : and 
the vivacity natural at that time of life brings persons into 
habits of intimacy, between whom, perhaps, except in vivacity, 
there is really but little resemblance. Now here I w r ould put 
you on your guard : it will be your duty to be courteous to 
all ; but form no intimacies, where you have not reason to 
believe, that there is some foundation at least of Chris- 
tian principles, and still less, where you observe the want 
of them in vicious acts or dispositions. It is almost impos- 
sible, that in such society your good resolutions should not 
be forgotten, and your religious habits impaired. You will 
find them perhaps ridiculed, but at any rate discouraged: 
and if there be any thing which can endanger your religious 
condition, it will be the constant, though silent influence of 
bad example. 

VI. But, in the last place, let me close these few admonitions, 
with exhorting you to cultivate, according to your means and 
opportunities, religious knowledge. I do not forget that I am 
addressing persons of very different degrees of education, and 
destined to very different stations of life : but I would urge 
you all without exception to improve yourselves by reading, 
and to endeavour to extend your knowledge of Christian doc- 
trines and duties beyond those rudiments, which the present 
solemnity requires. A Bible, a Prayer Book, a Preparation 
for the Sacrament, and a few plain Helps to Piety and 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 



273 



Christian Knowledge, seem to be indispensable to all of you ; 
and those, who cannot afford to purchase them, may probably 
be supplied gratuitously, with a part of them at least, out of 
the stores of the Diocesan Committee, by application to me 
through the clergyman, from whom they received their ticket. 
Religion will be better practised and be more endeared to 
you, the more fully you understand it : and, indeed, in this 
country especially, ought we to be acquainted with the excel- 
lence, and to cherish the profession of our faith. How many 
of you may be thrown into situations, in which the manners 
and habits of those around you will not contribute to establish 
you in the good principles, in which you have been brought 
up ! On the contrary, you may meet with open and avowed 
indifference on the subject of religion ; and your lot may even 
be cast, where its solemnities and decencies are wholly un- 
known. But in more favourable circumstances, there is much 
which should put you on your guard. Various modes and 
forms of faith are practised around us, all of them with ap- 
parent sincerity, and confidence that they are pleasing to 
God : and the effect of this upon Christians, is, I fear, not 
unfrequently, however unobserved by them, that they forget 
how destitute of Divine sanction is all which they behold ; 
that Christ only " hath the words of eternal life ;" (John vi. 
68.) that {{ He is the true light, which lighteth every man, 
" that cometh into the world;" (John i. 9.) and that they who 
have not seen that light are still in darkness. Let me caution 
you, then, beloved, against indifference ; and not less against 
that distraction of mind, which seems to see much good in 
every thing bearing the name of religion, and settles at last in 
nothing. Hold fast your faith without wavering, according 
to that "form of sound words," (2 Tim. i. 13.) which ye have 
received : and when you observe the thousands around you 
worshipping the works of their own hands, and seeking the 
atonement of sin in some vain and childish superstition, 
O bless the Being, who hath called you to this state of sal- 
vation through faith in Christ ; applying those words of the 
Psalmist, " This God is our God for ever and ever : — He 
shall be our guide unto death." (Ps. xlviii. 13.) 



T 



AN 

ADDRESS 

DELIVERED TO 

THE PERSONS CONFIRMED AT THE 
TRIENNIAL CONFIRMATION, 

HOLDEN IN 

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH AT CALCUTTA, 
On the IStk Day of December, 1821. 

By THOMAS FANSHAW, 

BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 



AN 

ADDRESS, &c 



BELOVED IN CHRIST, 

You have come before me generally for the purpose of rati- 
fying your baptismal vows; and this all of you have done, 
though not placed in precisely the same circumstances. You 
consist, for the most part, of young persons, who are just 
entering on the period of life, when they must begin to act for 
themselves : while some of you are of maturer age, although 
for want of opportunity, or from other causes, you have not, 
till now, made a public profession of your Christian engage- 
ments. In the case of the former, much gratitude is due to 
the zeal of their pastors, and to the affectionate solicitude of 
their parents and friends: and with respect to the latter, I 
cannot but rejoice, that their own conviction and sense of 
duty, and their readiness to conform with the order of the 
church, have led them to repair their past neglect, or, it may 
be, to avail themselves of a benefit, which had hitherto been 
denied them. It is, indeed, most fit and reasonable, that all 
Christians should, as soon as possible, after they attain to years 
of discretion, come forward in the face of the church to avow 
themselves members of Christ, to acknowledge and ratify 
their Christian engagements, and to pledge themselves, by 
God's grace, to persevere in that course of faith and obedi- 
ence, which those engagements imply : nor is it to be con- 
sidered as altogether unimportant, that we call down upon 
them the succours of the Holy Spirit in the manner prescribed 
by the example of the apostles, and with all the sincerity and 
fervour compatible with the weakness and unworthiness of 
those whose duty it has since become to administer this 
holy rite. 

But different as your circumstances may be, not only in 
point of age, but of education, connexions, and prospects in 
life, the solemnity, in which we have been engaged, affords 
me the opportunity of offering to all of you a few words of 

t 3 



278 



AN ADDRESS 



exhortation. They ought, indeed, to be adapted more espe- 
cially to the condition of the younger part of you, as the 
objects more immediately contemplated on the present occa- 
sion ; and, in charity, perhaps to those among them, who 
seem designed by Providence for the humbler walks of life : 
yet to none of you, I trust, will they be found altogether in- 
applicable. Amidst all the differences created by our respective 
conditions in life, we stand in the same relation to God, and 
look unto the same Redeemer ; and as for those of you, of 
whatever class or rank, who may have passed the period of early 
youth, your time will not be misspent in receiving wholesome 
counsel : if you are in the right way, it may happily encourage 
you to persevere ; and if otherwise, you are called upon to 
consider ; to pray unto God, that He will forgive and ob- 
literate from his remembrance all that is amiss in you, and 
permit you under happier circumstances to begin life again. 
No opportunity will ever occur more favourable than the 
present : nor do I despair, that the counsel, which I shall 
offer to those who hear me, though of necessity it will be 
general, will, by the divine blessing, be brought home to the 
hearts of all by particular and individual application. 

I will not, then, suppose, that you have not, according to 
the measure of your understandings, deeply reflected on the 
work, which you have had in hand. I have confidence in 
those, whose duty it has been to prepare you for this holy 
ordinance, that they would not have suffered you to present 
yourselves in a state of ignorance as to the principles of our 
holy faith, or without instructing you in the nature, and im- 
pressing you with the benefits of confirmation. Still I ought 
not to doubt, that the effect already produced on your minds 
may be encreased, at a moment of such interest as the present: 
religion is a practical thing : it may indeed be made intelligible 
to those, who will not join in its solemnities ; but its actual 
exercises give it life and energy ; they awaken the feelings, 
and warm the heart ; and in the whole course of the Christian 
life there is not any religious exercise better adapted to this 
end, than that in which you have now been engaged. Con- 
sider, I beseech you, what has really taken place : having 
attained to years of discretion, and being brought to under- 
stand the method devised by a merciful God for the salvation 
of sinners, in which number all that live are included, you 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 



279 



have here assembled to a make a public profession of your 
faith in the Redeemer, and to pledge yourselves to fight 
under his banners, as long as you shall live. But what is it 
to be a soldier of Christ ? It is to engage in an unceasing 
warfare against the world, the flesh and the devil; against 
every thing which may entice you to sin and forgetfulness 
of your Saviour ; and to live in holiness of habit and purity 
of heart, in the love of God, and in faith in a Redeemer, 
and to regulate your views and actions and desires by 
the standard of the gospel. And this profession has been 
made by you at a time of life, when the heart is sus- 
ceptible of deep impressions, and by all of you, I would 
hope, before it has been greatly polluted by the corruptions 
of the world. Surely, then, I cannot err, in believing, that 
many of you are seriously affected with what has passed ; that 
you consider yourselves as now entering on another state of 
life ; that childhood with its ignorance and indifference has 
vanished from your sight ; that your imaginations represent 
to your view the cares and duties and dangers, which belong 
to maturer years ; that you feel yourselves under a new and 
more awful responsibility ; that you are fearful, lest you should 
not fulfil your vows unto God ; and looking forward to the 
end of your probation, lest at last you should fail of your 
reward : while, on the other hand, your hope is in God, and 
you view religion as requiring little more than a continuance 
of that fervent feeling, with which you are at the moment 
actuated, and which you cannot believe will be easily ex- 
tinguished. In this you may be mistaken. Such reflexions, 
however, may well be supposed to arise in the breasts of the 
young, who are piously disposed, on the occasion of these 
solemnities* 

Presuming, then, that this is actually the state of mind with 
many of you, I proceed to address you in reference to it : or, 
where it does not already exist, something resembling it 
may perhaps be produced by the train of thought, into 
which it will be my endeavour, with the Divine blessing, to 
lead you. 

It is undoubtedly true, then, that you have now entered on 
a new responsibility : you have avowed your faith in Christ, 
and your solemn determination, with the grace of God, to 
live as persons, who expect to be judged by His holy law, 

t 4 



280 



AN ADDRESS 



and have no hope of eternal salvation, but in His mercy. I 
need hardly remind you, that much is implied in such a pro- 
fession : of the many thousands who have made it before you, 
with more or less of serious intention, how many are now 
living, as if nothing of the kind had ever entered their thoughts ! 
and how many more, continuing to the last in the same state 
of unconcern, have passed into eternity ! You are, therefore, 
embarked in an undertaking, in which, to say the least of it, 
it is easy to fail ; and in which you cannot hope to succeed, 
but by the diligent use of all the precautions, which wisdom 
and experience recommend. 

I. The first requisite, perhaps, is, that you be impressed 
with a just idea of the dangers of life, and especially of youth: 
when that period shall have been passed, not merely in inno- 
cence, but in Christian improvement, little is afterwards to be 
apprehended, though not so little, as to excuse you from 
vigilance and anxiety for your spiritual state. In youth you 
are by nature exposed to a combination of dangers, resulting 
from the violence of the passions, and from evil example, and 
from easiness of temper, and from want of experience, from 
precipitate decisions, from fascinating views of the world, and 
from a vain confidence, that as it will never be too late, 
abundant opportunity will be afforded you hereafter, of making 
up your minds on the subject of religion, and of living as it 
may require : in the mean time, if you conform to the received 
usages of propriety and decency, you will hold it to be suf- 
ficient for the present, and set your consciences at rest. It is 
my duty to warn you of the grossne'ss of such delusion : un- 
questionably God may bring us to reflect and to inquire, at 
any period of our lives : but the question to be considered is, 
whether He will do this, when we have deliberately and per- 
severingly treated the matter as of little importance, compared 
with the worldly objects, on which we have set our hearts ? 
The way, indeed, in which He usually brings such persons to 
reflect, if at all, is by some severe affliction ; by the loss of friends, 
of health, or of fortune ; by some change in their outward cir- 
cumstances, which strips the world of its allurements, and 
impels them to seek a refuge with God. You will not say, that, 
such an alternative is to be regarded without alarm : but some- 
thing worse may happen. It may be that their delusion may 
continue to the end : year after year may roll away, without 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 



281 



bringing any signal warning ; and the hand of death may be 
upon them, before they have examined their state. You 
have, therefore, no security but that of beginning well, and 
persevering in the right way : your safety lies wholly in your 
sense of the danger which threatens you on every deviation. 
And far easier is it to keep in the path of religion, than to 
recover it, when once it is lost : other paths will be pleasant 
to you for a time, and you will desire to quit them. True 
wisdom, therefore, will prompt you to resist the first solici- 
tations of sin ; you cannot listen to them, and preserve your 
powers of resistance unimpaired. 

It is fit, however, that you should know the nature of such 
solicitations ; for they are not confined to what the world 
condemns : you must appeal to a purer standard : the tempter 
assails the innocent and unsuspecting most formidably, when 
he would draw them into practices and indulgences, which, 
though they are at variance with the spirit of the gospel, are 
not, perhaps, subjects of common censure or remark. Be 
that as it may, there is mischief in every thing which has a ten- 
dency to the relaxation of genuine religious principle ; in every 
thing which would oblige yon to give up, or even to be remiss 
in habits, inculcated and prescribed by religion ; in every 
thing which requires you, before you can give assent to it, to 
tamper with the conscience, to argue with yourselves from 
the practice of others, or to efface or soften down any virtuous 
and Christian impression. Whatever is really good and 
right, recommends itself at once to minds not corrupted by 
the world. This moral feeling is invaluable ; and is therefore, 
by all means, to be retained : and thus it is, that a correctness 
of principle and a certain firmness of character will be found 
indispensable in your Christian career. 

II. But then, in the second place, it were vain to talk to 
you about religious principle and Christian firmness, if you 
are to be left to suppose that they are absolutely within your 
own power. There could not be a more fatal error. In our 
fallen nature, " nothing is strong, and nothing is holy," but 
through the grace of God : we owe our knowledge, and still 
more our love, of what is good, to the sanctifying influences 
of the Holy Spirit : and our power of persisting in the practice 
of holiness is derived from the same source. No truth is more 
clearly laid down in the Scriptures ; and it is illustrated in onr 



AN ADDRESS 



own experience. It will be, therefore, to little purpose, that 
you shall resolve to lead Christian lives, unless you will 
maintain a continual intercourse and communion with God. 
I do not exceed the truth, when I affirm, that prayer is as 
necessary to the well-being of the soul, as food is to that of 
the body. We have no spiritual strength without it : we are 
left to our natural weakness : for what confidence can we 
place in the divine protection, unless we seek it ? or how can 
we expect to resist evil, if we take not the means to confirm 
ourselves in the love of that which is good ? But these effects 
flow from prayer : we are sure that God will hear us, if we 
earnestly ask, that He will enable us to fulfil his command- 
ments, and teach us to love his law : and as little can we doubt, 
if we believe in a gracious Providence, that He will direct us 
aright, when we submit ourselves entirely to his disposal. 
The very habit, indeed, of prayer is salutary to the soul : it 
keeps alive within us whatever is pure and holy; it creates in 
us an abhorrence of sin ; it gives us an interest in the service 
of God; it dispenses a sanctifying influence, and places us 
above the world; not above the duties, or the charities, or the 
wants of life ; that were, indeed, a delusion ; but above its 
vicissitudes, its fashions, its corruptions and temptations. In 
the constant practice of prayer our nature is gradually changed : 
we are benefited by frequent and intimate intercourse with 
men, who are eminently good. How, then, can we fail to be 
improved, and even transformed, by the habit of holding 
communion with God? Let, therefore, the good resolutions, 
whatever they may be, which you have this day formed, be 
connected and blended in your minds with the need of Divine 
succour : our best resolves are, that we will do what we know to 
be right, with the help of God : but a part of every such pur- 
pose will be, that we will seek for that help, and cease not to pray 
for it from day to day, while we remain in this state of trial. 

III. In the next place, however, let me remind you, that 
though our secret and individual wants should be the subject 
of private prayer, (and they cannot be fully represented in 
any other,) the religion of Christ could not be maintained in 
the world without the public service of the church : and to 
imagine that either supersedes the use of the other, is to mis- 
take the proper objects of both. The uses of private prayer 
may be gathered, in some measure, from what has been 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 2cS3 

already said : but the service of the church is a public and 
continually renewed profession of our faith in Christ, and that 
not merely for our own sakes, but for the good of our brethren. 
If I might venture to make such a distinction, I would say, that 
self-examination, and contrition, and gratitude for especial 
mercies, are the principal features of secret devotion ; which, 
however, refer chiefly to ourselves : whereas of public prayer, 
the prominent character will be, that it proclaims " glory to 
" God in the highest, and good-will towards men." We 
meet in this place to offer to the Almighty the tribute of our 
common homage, to give evidence to others of our faith in the 
Redeemer, and to show, that however some may think or act, 
Hoe are " on the Lord's side ;" that in a conflict between 
religion and irreligion, such as exists in the world, we throw 
our weight, whatever it may be, into the scale of the former ; 
that we acknowledge our deliverance from sin and misery to 
be only through Christ ; that we delight in beholding others 
making the same profession ; that we can cordially join w ith 
our brethren in calling down on our common frailties the 
mercy of God, and his common blessing on our endeavours 
to serve him ; and we attest, what in an age of religious em- 
piricism and causeless separation is not unimportant, that we 
are in the unity of the church. It is not, however, my mean- 
ing, that social worship has no relation to private and 
individual wants ; and as little should it be supposed, that in 
our most secret devotions our brethren are altogether over- 
looked : I speak only of these leading distinctions of the two, 
with the view of showing you, that both are necessary to the 
Christian. Let it, therefore, be your care to lose no oppor- 
tunity of joining in the service of the church. Let your attend- 
ance be not casual, but regular. No measure of secret piety 
will excuse you. What you need not for yourselves, you will 
in charity ask for your brethren, and assist them in their 
prayers. Above all, you will feel it incumbent upon you, espe- 
cially in this heathen land, to bear testimony unto Christ. It 
is, indeed, deeply to be lamented, that many of you may be 
thrown into situations, where religion is not publicly main- 
tained : if, however, you shall feel the privation, (and such it 
must be to every Christian mind,) you will be the more anxious 
to avail yourselves of the public worship, whenever it may be 
had. It might, indeed, be expected, that they, who have 



284 



AN ADDRESS 



resided at stations, where no religious provision exists, would, 
on the first opportunity, direct their footsteps to the house of 
prayer. We do not, however, always find this to be the case : 
and we account for it by the melancholy truth, that men may 
live without religion, till they cease to think of it, or perhaps 
regard it with disgust. From this fact I will derive one word 
of advice, which however I would press upon you with all 
earnestness ; that if God has blessed you with religious im- 
pressions, cherish and mature them by all the means which 
He has graciously afforded you, or they will become weaker 
till they are effaced for ever. 

IV. But under the head of your religious obligations, I 
must not, especially on such an occasion, overlook the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's supper, to which you are henceforth to 
be admitted. I need not, indeed, explain to those, who have 
been competently instructed in the Church Catechism, the 
nature of that solemn ordinance ; the ends for which it was 
instituted, or the blessings which it dispenses. You know it 
to be for a perpetual remembrance of the death of Christ, 
whereby we obtain redemption, and that in the worthy par- 
ticipation of it the spiritual principle within us receives fresh 
supplies of strength. It combines, in fact, all that is sublime, 
and tender, and humble, and holy in the character of religious 
adoration ; self-examination, the confession of sin, pious 
resolves, thankfulness for our Saviour's love to us, the com- 
plete surrender of ourselves, " of our souls and bodies," to 
his service, and an acknowledgement of our faith in his blood, 
all of them co-existing in our minds and hearts with brotherly 
love and charity. 

It is, however, a subject of deep regret that so many are 
found to excuse themselves from the table of their Redeemer. 
Some are unfit to appear there, as perhaps they themselves 
allege ; and while they lay great stress upon the sin of receiv- 
ing the sacrament unworthily, forget that they are guilty of 
the greater sin of not renouncing the course of life in which 
alone their unworthiness consists ; while others seem to con- 
sider this sacrament as something which is left to their op- 
tion, whether they will receive it or reject it : and yet our church 
has pronounced, that both the sacraments are " generally ne- 
cessary to salvation ;" meaning, no doubt, where they may be 
had. Both, indeed, are intimately connected with the great 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 



285 



object of the Gospel dispensation, " the remission of sins :" 
it was for this end that St. Peter called upon the people to be 
baptized ; (Acts ii. 38.) and our Saviour, when at the institu- 
tion of the other sacrament, he gave the cup to his disciples, 
declared it to be his " blood of the New Testament, shed for 
many, for the remission of sins;" (Matt. xxvi. 28.) and it is 
hardly possible to understand otherwise than in relation to 
the same sacrament, though not then instituted, that most 
awful saying of our Saviour, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his 
blood, ye have no life in you (John vi. 53.) It must not, 
indeed, be taken to mean the mere act of eating and drinking 
the sacred elements, but the spiritual use and application of 
it; in which, however, the act is supposed. But indepen- 
dently of these considerations, it may be enough for you to 
know, that this sacrament was ordained by Christ himself as 
a standing memorial of the one Great Sacrifice for sin : it can- 
not, therefore, be innocent, or even a matter of little moment, 
that any man shall deliberately refuse to bear testimony to the 
merits and the efficacy of that Sacrifice in the manner pre* 
scribed : it is, in truth, however it may be meant, little less 
than a denial of the Lord that bought him, (2 Pet. ii. 1.) 

V. But among the topics of advice respecting your conduct 
in life, I must not be altogether silent on the subject of your 
worldly occupations. Religion, strictly so called, cannot en- 
gage all your thoughts, and the world has claims upon you in 
your several stations and callings : and yet even into your se- 
cular duties religion will enter, if they be discharged in a 
Christian spirit, and in due subordination to the law of God; 
with diligence and fidelity and integrity, and without suffering 
them to encroach upon religious principle, or to interfere with 
those obligations which have a distinct and immediate reference 
to the Almighty. This, however, is the great error into which 
persons of industry and enterprize are liable to fall : they at- 
tach too much importance to their secular pursuits, because 
these are useful to the world ; and, probably, much more, be- 
cause they are profitable and lucrative, they would make at- 
tention to business a plea for the neglect of every thing else. 
They seem to ascribe to it a merit, which supersedes religious 
obligations, as if religion were not enjoined on all men alike ; 
as if it were required only from persons who have "abundant 



286 



AN ADDRESS 



leisure, and who cannot otherwise occupy their time. Absurd 
as are all such pretences, they operate to a great extent. What 
is more common than the neglect of private and of family 
prayer, and even the desecration of the day of holy rest, 
upon the plea of the urgent demands on time ? There can- 
not, however, be a plainer confession, that of such men the 
world is really the idol, to which they pay the homage due to 
God alone ; nor do they consider, that wealth or reputation, 
or even secular usefulness, will avail them nothing to the par- 
don of sin, or that they cannot thus acquire the habits, and 
sentiments, and desires, which alone will prepare them for 
eternity. 

It must not, however, be dissembled, that with a portion of 
our Christian population the disposition to excess in laborious 
employments is by no means prevalent : against bodily and 
manual labour there is even a prejudice : it is thought dis- 
reputable, and to be resorted to only in the case of actual ne- 
cessity. Here, then, is an error of an opposite character ; 
and though it operates very differently from the former, its 
effects are not less injurious. Idleness is incompatible with 
religion, as being the parent of vice and folly, and those pur- 
suits are not favourable to it which require but little active 
exertion : they produce a general listlessness and indifference, 
which relax the mind, and render it as unfit for the practice 
of religion as for every thing else which demands resolution 
and firmness. It is true, that all cannot choose their occupa- 
tions, and that all the offices of human life must be filled ; 
but I would abate, if possible, the prejudice against manual 
employment : it is allied more nearly than some suspect both 
to virtue and to happiness : health and cheerfulness follow in 
its train ; its habits are generally frugal and simple ; the vi- 
gour of the body gives a tone to the mind, and its intervals 
of rest are periods of real enjoyment. Such a state is not ill 
adapted to the service of God : it is connected with humility 
and thankfulness for the measure of good vouchsafed, and 
with that teachable disposition which is the proper soil to re- 
ceive the seed of the gospel. 

VI. But let me not forget that many of you are removed, 
by the gifts of Providence, from the necessity of actual toil ; 
and even they who will be most engaged, will have short in- 
tervals of time at their own disposal. In offering you advice, 
16 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 



287 



therefore, for the conduct of life, something should be said 
upon the proper use of leisure. With respect, then, to those 
of you who may have much, I would earnestly recommend to 
you to consider it as a trust for which you must account. It 
is a plea in frequent use, and sometimes it is truly urged, that 
men have not spare time to do much good to others, or to 
advance their own improvement so far as they really wish ; 
but where this plea cannot justly be used, there is a propor- 
tionate responsibility ; and certainly they who are exempted 
from the necessity of close occupation, should consider that 
their privilege is rather in the choice of their employment, 
while others have their particular course of duty marked out 
for them, and absolutely enjoined. Our time, in fact, is our 
life ; and it is not to be spent unprofitably, unless it can be 
supposed to be venial to live in vain. Consider, then, you 
whom Providence has favoured, (I speak to persons of either 
sex,) what opportunities are open to you for the exercise of 
benevolence ; nor is this to be considered as confining itself 
to almsgiving, but as exerted in a general solicitude about the 
miseries of mankind, in patient thought how they may most 
effectually be mitigated, and in ascertaining and establishing 
the merits of those who have fallen into distress. Half the 
suffering in the world would be relieved, if the deserving 
could be distinguished from the worthless, and wretchedness 
could assert its claims free from the suspicion of imposture. 

There is one use, however, of leisure, whether it be much 
or little, on which I should earnestly insist : I allude to your 
advancement in Christian knowledge. There cannot be a 
greater error, common as it is, than to suppose that religious 
studies may be allowed to terminate with the discipline of the 
school, or are dispensed with after confirmation ; or, at the 
utmost, need be prosecuted no further, than by listening to 
instruction from the pulpit. With respect to the religious 
knowledge conveyed to us before the usual period of confirm- 
ation, it is necessarily very limited ; and with regard to the 
instruction delivered from the pulpit, the improvement to be 
derived from it is much retarded by that scantiness of religi- 
ous information which unhappily prevails in most Christian 
assemblies. Where a multitude are to be addressed, consist- 
ing of persons of very different attainments, and all of them 
to be in some measure benefited and improved, a competent 



288 



AN ADDRESS 



acquaintance with Scriptural subjects is requisite, even in the 
least informed. 

My counsel, then, to all of you is, that you cultivate reli- 
gious knowledge, according to your opportunities, especially in 
the study of the Holy Scriptures, assisted by the valuable 
and various helps which the divines of our church have pro- 
vided : there is not, in fact, any doctrine or any duty taught 
by our religion, which they have not powerfully enforced, or 
any difficulty, except it be such as eludes our finite understand- 
ings, which they have not satisfactorily explained. I feel it, there- 
fore, to be a cause of thankfulness, that the tracts and larger 
treatises of the Society for promoting Christian Know- 
ledge have, of late years, been abundantly supplied to every 
part of the diocese. The means of improvement are thus 
within the reach of all who really desire it, and whose wants 
shall be made known, as they easily may be, to any one of 
the members of the respective committees. It is, moreover, 
to the praise of that ancient society, as tending to enlarge the 
wide sphere of its usefulness, that it now adopts and dissemi- 
nates books of general information, adapted, however, with 
the Divine blessing, to promote the glory of God. The age, 
indeed, in which we live is remarkable for a prevailing dis- 
position, among almost all classes of people, to devote some 
part of their time to reading. It were, however, an error to 
suppose, that there is a proportionate advancement in Scrip- 
tural, or even in other knowledge. Much of the time spent 
in this way is utterly lost, as to any valuable purpose. It serves 
only to amuse, while, probably, it perverts the minds of those 
who can find no rational employment. Still it is not my 
meaning that Scriptural reading, or what is closely connected 
with it, should alone engage your leisure, if it be abundant ; 
but I should not fulfil my purpose, in alluding to this subject, 
if I did not strongly urge the importance of your assigning 
the first place to that knowledge which will make you " wise 
unto salvation ;" and let me add, of abstaining from such 
reading, as is at least frivolous, and, if it does no other harm, 
will give you a distaste for higher and better things. You, 
however, whose lot is humble, and who can have little time 
to spare from worldly occupations, will do well to keep 
to the Bible, and to the best helps to the true understanding 
of it ; blessing God that He has afforded you a measure of 



TO PERSONS CONFIRMED. 



289 



education, whatever it may be, and seeking to advance both 
your knowledge and your love of the Scriptures by a holy 
and a Christian life. 

VII. In the last place, let me not dismiss you without ad- 
verting to the circumstances of the country in which your lot 
is cast. Among^the nations around you the God of Christians 
and the Saviour of the world are unknown. Few of you can 
be ignorant of the endeavours which are made to bring the 
the heathen to a knowledge of the truth ; but the truth will 
never beam upon their minds in its genuine lustre unless it be 
found to influence the lives of those who profess it. I cannot, 
indeed, repress the thought, how great the effect would be if 
all, or even the greater part of those, who from time to time 
are the objects of these solemnities, would through life re- 
member their sacred engagements, and would think of the 
day with holy awe, when they pledged themselves before God 
to fulfil their baptismal vows. We should then see persons 
in various ranks of life, and in considerable numbers, going 
forth through these wide regions, not, indeed, actually to preach 
the doctrine of God their Saviour, but to adorn it ; to exhibit 
in their lives and conversation the meekness, and the purity, 
and the charity of the Gospel, and to bear testimony to the 
truth of what is affirmed of them, that their hope of salvation 
is in Christ. Let, then, this idea, beloved, be realized in you: 
consider yourselves to be severally responsible, so far as the 
example of each of you may extend, for the opinion which the 
heathen may form of the religion of Jesus Christ, and for its 
consequent success in the world. To every one of you, va^- 
rious as your conditions in life will be, is assigned a part in 
the greatest work which God has ever delegated to man, the 
bringing of the nations out of darkness and the shadow of death 
into the kingdom of the blessed Redeemer. May the Holy 
Spirit keep these things in your remembrance, and " stablish 
you in every good word and work !" 



u 



AN 



ADDRESS 

TO 

THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. PANCRAS, 
MIDDLESEX, 

ON 

THE SUBJECT OF AN APPLICATION TO PARLIAMENT FOR A 
NEW CHURCH, &C. 

BY 

T. F. MIDDLETON, D.D. 

ARCHDEACON OF HUNTINGDON £ THE VICAR. 



" Speaking the truth in love." 

Eph.'vf. 15. 



u 2 



AN 

ADDRESS, && 



MY CHRISTIAN BRETHREN, 

w hen the proposal for erecting a church in my parish was 
first promulgated, it was my intention, without delay, to ad- 
dress you on this important subject from the various pulpits. 
I regarded it as a topic, not ill suited to the most solemn ap- 
peal to your reason and your feelings. I viewed it, not as 
limited to a single point of scriptural doctrine, or of Christian 
duty, to which the discourses of the clergy are, for the most 
part, necessarily confined, but as embracing within its compass 
every doctrine and every duty ; that, without which, neither 
can the one be expounded, nor the other enforced, — the means 
of public instruction. In a parish, in which these are so re- 
markably withholden, especially from the poor, I conceive 
that I should be wholly negligent of the great trust reposed 
in me, if I did not endeavour to impress upon your minds 
the alarming extent of this evil, and your obligation to admi- 
nister the remedy. 

Circumstances, however, have subsequently arisen, which 
have made it impossible that I should adhere to my first 
purpose. In the dearth of argument against the proposal, 
recourse was had to a proceeding, which is always easy and 
not often unsuccessful ; and that is, to impeach the motives of 
the person, who may easily be represented as the author of 
the project. The original resolutions of the meeting at the 
church were scarcely published, when the merits of the ques- 
tion were nearly overborne by the popular remark, that the 
plan had little else in view than the aggrandisement of the 
vicar. This assertion obtained credit the more readily, be- 
cause the interests of the vicar, though in conjunction with 
those of the parish, were really contemplated at the meeting : 
for it might easily be shown, paradoxical as it may at first 

u 3 



294 



AN ADDRESS TO 



appear, that such a conjunction of interests is not only possible, 
but that where it does not actually exist, in that parish some- 
thing must be wrong. But the turn thus given to the ques- 
tion, as well as the heat and animosity excited by other 
causes, made it wholly unfit for discussion in a Christian as- 
sembly. I will never consent to desecrate the pulpit ; it is 
appropriated to themes of high and universal importance : the 
passions of a party, and the selfishness of an individual, are 
alike beneath its dignity. The possible imputation of being 
influenced by such feelings, is sufficient to restrain the Chris- 
tian preacher : it is among the unrivalled precepts of Gospel 
morality, to " abstain from all appearance of evil." 

From these considerations, I am induced to address you 
through the medium of the press : I will dispatch the topics 
which respect myself, as briefly as possible, that I may pro- 
ceed to others, which are more worthy of your attention. 

In connexion with the plan for erecting a church in the 
southern and most populous district of the parish, it is pro- 
posed to sell the present vicarage house, and to build another 
near the future church, when it shall be completed. I forbear to 
repeat, and still more to refute, certain insinuations respecting 
my views in this particular. It has always been considered 
as highly expedient, that the minister, especially of a large 
parish, should reside where his duties require his presence. 
The present vicarage house is at the average distance of two 
miles from the great mass of the population, and one mile 
and a quarter from the parish church : it has been truly, 
though unfairly replied, that it is near the centre of the pa- 
rish : the proposed plan, however, of providing a residence 
for the vicar near the intended church, will place him in the 
centre, not indeed of the 2,600 acres, of which the parish 
consists, but of the 40,000 inhabitants, who occupy less than 
a fifth of that space, near the southern extremity. It will 
immediately occur to you, that in expressing my readiness to 
remove to that quarter, I am not consulting my own ease : 
the calls of business will be increased tenfold : the portion of 
leisure which I now enjoy, I owe to the inconvenient distance 
of the vicarage house from the far greater part of my parish- 
ioners : the occasion must be urgent, which will induce them 
to go two miles from home. I should also add, that I cannot, 
on my own account, desire to quit the part of the parish, in 



THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. PANCRAS. 995 

which I at present reside : it is recommended to me by the 
healthfulness of the situation, and by exemption from noise 
and interruption : but, more than all, by the friendly atten- 
tions of the inhabitants of the village, who uniformly consider 
and treat me as their pastor, and between whom and myself 
there exists, and I trust will long exist* a feeling of mutual 
regard. 

On the subject of the commutation of the vicarial tithes and 
Easter offerings, I will endeavour to be equally brief* The 
revenues of this benefice have been long in a state of dilapi- 
dation ; so that, unless the vicar will expose himself to the 
odium of living in hostility with those, whom he must wish to 
regard as friends, his emoluments must sink to the level of 
an ordinary rectory in the country, while the duties 
and responsibility in the latter (not to insist on the expenses 
of living) shrink from all comparison. In the commutation 
of the tithes, only a few individuals are concerned ; and the 
annual amount which they admit to be due, is very incon- 
siderable : but Easter offerings, as is well known, are payable 
by all adults. Of the extreme difficulty of collecting these ;~ 
of the wanton trouble* in some instances, given to the col- 
lectors; — and the refusal of many others to pay them at 
all, without a summons from the magistrate ; — I am unwilling 
to speak particularly : the subject is painful and degrading* 
I leave it to enlightened men to judge, whether this be a de- 
sirable mode of providing for the minister of such a parish as 
St. Pancras : their knowledge of the world will enable them 
to decide, whether a clergyman can be eminently useful 
where he is not respected, and whether respect be consistent 
with a state of vexatious dependence : and their sense of pro- 
priety will determine, whether it be not high time, that a 
parish with a population of nearly 50,000, should enable the 
head of their ecclesiastical department to live amongst them 
in a manner suited to his station, or should, as has here- 
tofore always been the case, compel him, by an inadequate 
provision, to dedicate a great part of his attention to other 
objects, and to make the second cure in the metropolis a 
subordinate concern. By a statute of Henry VIII., the 
London clergy, in very many parishes, are entitled to a rate 
of 2s. 9d. in the pound on the actual rental ; and the preamble 
to that act shows, that the circumstances which gave birth to 

u 4 



296 



AN ADDRESS TO 



it, were precisely similar to those which now exist in St. Pan- 
eras. Those parishes, indeed, are generally of small extent : 
-but it has been suggested, that an adequate provision in your 
own parish, would not be less than one penny in the pound 
to be paid on the rental in lieu of Easter offerings, and of all 
. vicarial tithes whatever. But I speak of these things reluct- 
antly, and gladly dismiss them. Among a variety of remarks 
reported to me by the collectors, there is only one which I 
am desirous to repeat to you : it is a question, which I am 
assured has been asked in every quarter of the parish : 
" Why have we not a church?" This question, together 
with a few considerations arising out of it, is the subject of 
the present Address. 

It is only within a few years, that the parish of St. Pancras 
has risen to very great importance. Within the memory of 
some of you, the most populous part of it was the then small 
village of Kentish Town. Camden Town, Somers Town, 
and the multitudes of streets and squares on the southern side 
of the New Road, had no existence : the whole parish did 
not contain 800 persons. For the religious wants of such a 
population, the wisdom and piety of our ancestors had made 
ample provision: the parish church will accommodate about 
200 persons, and the ancient chapel of ease at Kentish Town 
held, perhaps, nearly the same number : the rebuilding of the 
iatter about thirty years ago, though upon much too small a 
scale, and with some aid from the trustees of the church 
lands, is every thing which has been done in this parish, 
during many centuries, for the maintenance of parochial re- 
ligion. The other places of divine worship for the members 
of the establishment, are three proprietary chapels, a chapel of 
ease to St. James's, Westminster, and the chapel of the 
Foundling Hospital. It might be sufficient to say generally 
of these, that were they appropriated to the parishioners of 
St. Pancras, and open to the rich and the poor indiscrimately, 
they would still be insufficient : but that is by no means the 
case. The chapel of the Foundling Hospital, standing nearly 
on the boundary of St. Pancras, may be supposed to receive 
within its walls as many aliens as inhabitants of the parish, in 
which it happens to be situated : the laudable object of the 
governors requires them to accommodate those, who are will- 
ing to contribute to the charity, from whatever district they 



THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. PANCRAS. 297 



may come: parochial considerations form no part of their 
concern. The chapel of St. James's is of a different cha- 
racter: it is parochial, though not so with regard to St. 
Pancras, in which it stands : its connexion is with a parish 
to which St. Pancras is not even contiguous ; and it differs 
not, I believe, from other chapels of ease, except in the 
anomaly, that it is frequented, and must be so from its situ- 
ation, almost entirely by the inhabitants of one parish, who 
can receive instruction only from the ministers of another. — 
Of proprietary chapels, whatever praise may be due to the 
zeal and talents of the clergy, who officiate in them, I do not 
profess myself to be friendly to the principle. Wherever 
they exist, they have arisen out of the deficiency of our paro- 
chial establishments ; for which, however, they afford but a 
very inadequate substitute, while they contribute to perpetu- 
ate the evil : they cannot but render the more opulent parish- 
ioners, in many instances, indifferent about wants, which they 
themselves no longer feel. The principle, to which- they owe 
their origin, is no other than that of commercial adventure. 
A builder observing that the spirit of Christianity is not 
wholly extinct, invests a portion of his capital in erecting a 
place of public worship. To what particular description of 
Christians it is to be appropriated, needs riot be determined 
beforehand : trade is not fastidious about the opinions of a 
purchaser : and such is the tenure, that it is not permanently 
confined to the church, even though a churchman should be 
the first to license it : in the failure of success, it may be sub- 
sequently applied to any other more profitable purpose, 
whether sacred or profane. 

I am afraid, however, that the evil does not always rest 
here ; I am afraid, that even while buildings of this kind are 
in the hands of churchmen, the system has tendencies, which 
are greatly to be deprecated. Whether the proprietor be a 
layman or a clergyman, while his emoluments depend upon 
the letting of the seats, he is under a strong temptation to give 
to divine service attractions, which do not properly belong to 
it, and which, while they recommend it to those, who are in 
quest of amusement, degrade it in the estimation of the serious 
and reflecting. Christianity, in its native and noble simplicity, 
addresses itself not to the taste or the imagination, but to the 
understanding and the heart: it is not studious to adapt itself 



298 AN ADDRESS TO 

to the variable standard of popular sentiment, but is, like its 
author, " the same yesterday and to-day and for ever." In 
this view, nothing can be more conducive to the maintenance 
of its true character, than that independence of principle and 
practice, for which our establishment usually provides. A 
clergyman, who does not labour under the consciousness, that 
it is his interest to attract hearers, has to blame himself alone, 
if he deviate from the track of solid and sober instruction. 
The system has also other tendencies, which are not to be 
desired. The great variety of preachers in some of these 
chapels, while it stimulates the religious appetite, cannot fail 
to deprave it ; nor is public instruction productive of the 
greatest possible good, where little or nothing is known of the 
preacher, except from his sermon. I might also add, that 
these chapels sometimes interfere with the province of the 
parochial clergyman : the parishioners are not always aware, 
that the preacher of a proprietary chapel has no connection 
with them beyond the duties of the pulpit, and avail them- 
selves of his ministrations to the exclusion of their constituted 
pastor, and the extinction of order and regularity. 

In this part of my subject, I desire to be understood as 
every where speaking of the system and its tendencies. In my 
own parish, these chapels appear to be very well conducted : in 
my occasional visits to them I have found them most respectably 
attended ; and I have constantly rejoiced that some at least of 
my parishioners have such a resource : but it will be remem- 
bered, that whatever is good in these chapels is the peculiar 
merit of the proprietor, while that which is objectionable is 
connected with the system, and that the one is changeable, 
while the other is permanent. 

Of the three proprietary chapels in St. Pancras none is 
unusually large, and two of them certainly accommodate a 
great proportion of aliens. From the nature of them, it is not 
to be supposed that they afford any considerable convenience 
to the poor: it is not reasonable to expect that individuals 
should gratuitously do much to mitigate an evil, which whole 
parishes are backward to remove on account of the expence. 

There is not any free-chapel in St. Pancras ; neither do 
such chapels, though undoubtedly suggested by the purest 
benevolence, seem to answer all the ends of public worship : 
whatever tends to separate the rich from the poor in the 



THE PARISHIONERS OP ST. PANCRAS. 



299 



presence of Him, who is the maker of both, is so far excep- 
tionable : let them, at least on one day in the week, " meet 
together:" to the rich it teaches humility, while it inspires 
the poor with confidence ; and it serves to unite both in the 
bonds of mutual dependence and esteem. 

In truth, the objects proposed are attainable in all their 
variety and in their full extent, only in a parish church. It 
makes religion visible ; it invests the service of God with 
dignity and veneration ; it connects the pastor with his parish- 
ioners, and the parishioners with each other ; and it helps to 
stimulate the exertions of all, in what it has made a common 
cause : it excites an interest in that, to which in independent 
congregations the attention can be but rarely directed ; I mean 
the concerns of a parish ; in its order and good govern- 
ment ; in its regulation and improvement ; in the support of 
its charities, where it has such as might be expected, and in 
the foundation of them, where they are wanted : in short, the 
practical and civil results of Christianity must be looked for 
in the influence of the parish church. I press this point the 
more earnestly, from observing a prevailing prejudice in 
favour of chapels. It is commonly alleged, that two chapels 
would afford the accommodation of a large church ; but accom- 
modation is not all, which is desired ; you want much more ; 
you have as yet no parochial character, no pervading sentiment, 
no common feeling directed to a given end : you require not so 
much to be divided and distributed, as to be brought together. 
Christians are to be viewed not merely as worshippers of their 
Maker, but as members of society : and in society the lowest 
civil subdivision is a parish. In districts so populous as 
St. Pancras, I mean not to deny that parochial chapels are 
necessary, nor that proprietary chapels, in the existing cir- 
cumstances, have their use : I contend only, that chapels of 
the latter description have arisen out of the want of the 
former, and that the former should not be adopted, except 
from the inconvenience of distance, or the insufficiency of the 
most spacious parish church. The great Christian principle 
is unity ; unity not only of faith and fellowship, but to the 
utmost practicable extent, unity of worship, and a consequent 
unity of benevolence. 

With these sentiments, I cannot be supposed to have been, 
during the short period of my incumbency, an indifferent 



300 



AN ADDRESS TO 



spectator of the condition of my parish. When indeed I was 
honoured with the offer of the cure, I observed little, which 
could encourage me to accept it : the first images, which pre- 
sented themselves to my mind, were those of division and 
confusion : I saw a parish, which had grown enormously 
populous within half a century, at least a whole century be- 
hind in improvement. The lure of interest was out of the 
question : in quitting my country preferments, I should not 
increase my emoluments ; while in point of ease, independ- 
ence, leisure and tranquillity, the balance would be largely 
against me. Yet I reflected, that a clergyman not far ad- 
vanced beyond the prime of life, and attached to the studies 
and. duties of his profession, ought not, especially in these 
days, to shrink from difficulties ; and I thought that I dis- 
covered in the charge of such a parish, whenever those 
difficulties should be removed, a field for honourable and use- 
ful exertion. Whether these views were visionary, it rests 
with you to determine. 

Of the proceedings, which have already taken place, I will 
not disclaim any share of the responsibility, which properly 
belongs to me, nor will I arrogate to myself the praise, which 
is more justly due to the excellent persons, who have made 
me their coadjutor. To the meeting at the church I was 
certainly a party ; and whatever may have been said against 
the origination of such a measure among a few, in a parish, 
in which there are above 6,000 householders, it is that very 
circumstance, which in the judgment of all of us justified the 
proceeding : and many of those, who have objected to it, must 
know, if they will calmly consider the question, that in no 
other conceivable method could the project assume any thing 
like form and consistency, or avoid being stifled in the birth. 
But it was only the origination of the measure, which the 
meeting had in view : its modification, its arrangement, its de- 
tails, its improvement, its completion, and the means by which 
it was to be carried through every stage of its existence, were 
all to be submitted to parochial revision. For the present, 
the resolutions of the meeting were published ; and, to save 
the session, notices were inserted in the Gazette. This, it was 
hoped, would be all, which considerate men would require : 
yet more was done ; immediately, on the appearance of hos- 
tility, a proposal was made to the adversaries of the measure, to 

14 



THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. PANCRAS. 



301 



suspend their animosity for a very short period, till its friends 
could fully digest their plan, pledging themselves in the mean 
time to desist from all further proceedings. But the proffer 
was instantly rejected; and it was resolved to appoint a 
" committee for opposing any and every application to parlia- 
ment." It requires but little sagacity to ascertain what coun- 
tenance the friends of the measure were to expect, if before 
they had formed the mere outline of their plan they had 
solicited the opinion of the vestry. 

It is, however, the object of this address, to conciliate. 
Among our opponents there are some, who from their high 
consideration in the parish, their character, their property, 
and their attachment to the established church, were entitled 
to our especial regard. We should, indeed, have derived 
great benefit to our cause from their counsel and their in- 
fluence ; but many of them were absent from town ; and to 
others the access was not so easy, as we might have wished, 
especially in the eastern division of the parish, which has few 
representatives at the board of directors, and appears to take 
but little part in parochial concerns. I have the greater 
reason to regret this circumstance, when I am told that there 
are persons, who scruple not to admit the expediency of the 
measure in all its extent, but who have joined our antagonists, 
avowedly because they were not among the first, who were 
consulted. I confess I hear such an argument with pain : it 
is distressing to reflect that private feeling should avail against 
an acknowledged public good, and that a little more of ex- 
ternal respect, though the means of shewing it were not always 
obvious, might have secured a friend, where the want of it 
has armed an enemy. But I cherish the hope, that their 
resentments have by this time subsided : at the crisis of their 
indignation they were enlisted into the ranks of the opposition; 
but their passions, not their reason, approved the service : 
they will surely withdraw, or at least, if they cannot do this 
consistently, they will be passsive observers of the contest* 

But a transient and excusable feeling of jealousy is not the 
only principle, against which the promoters of the bill have 
to contend. Self-love is nlore deeply rooted; and its fears 
have been excited to a feverish height, by unfounded state- 
ments ; while in some instances the uninformed and unsus- 
pecting have been purposely imposed upon, and sent forth to 



302 



AN ADDRESS TO 



propagate their credulity. It was not to be expected, that 
an object of such magnitude, as the erection of a spacious 
church, could be accomplished without any perceptible bur- 
then : but when I admit that it will be perceptible, I hope that 
I have described it by its most unpopular epithet. It is 
clearly ascertained that a structure worthy of such a parish 
may be completed at no heavier expence to the parishioners 
than a rate of sixpence in the pound ; and that at the end of 
about four years, when the fourpenny rate for liquidating the 
debt incurred to build the workhouse will have ceased, the 
whole amount of the church and poor's rates in this parish 
will be only two shillings and sixpence in the pound : you are 
probably aware, that this will be below the present burthens 
of almost every other parish in the neighbourhood of the 
metropolis : any objection, therefore, to the proposed measure, 
on the ground of expence, supposes in the objector a degree 
of parsimony, which, if it be felt by a few individuals in other 
parishes, as probably it may, at least is not there suffered to 
obstruct the general good. It is, indeed, alleged, that how- 
ever light the burthen may be in ordinary cases, it will press 
unequally. I know of scarcely any burthen, against which 
the very same objection may not be urged : few general laws 
can be made to operate without partial inconvenience \ but in 
the present instance, from what does this partial pressure 
arise ? Is it, that the objector is engaged in some extensive 
mercantile concern? is it, that some profitable enterprise re- 
quires him to occupy much more than a dwelling ? is it, that 
wealth and prosperity have enabled him to " join house to 
house, and to lay field to field ?" 1 do not perceive the validity 
of any adverse inference derived from such premises. Every 
burthen imposed upon men in a state of society must be in 
proportion not merely to their wealth, but to the means 
which they withhold from others, of obtaining wealth. In 
the country, for example, if one man should occupy 1000 
acres, it is surely reasonable that he should be charged to- 
wards the repairs of his parish church, and to other parochial 
burthens, the whole of the sum which would have been due 
from any number of renters of the same land : the burthen on 
great occupiers is only positively, not relatively, unequal : for 
their profits are, or ought to be, proportionate The very 
supposition that an objection founded on such an inequality, 



THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. PANCRAS. 303 



as that which I have imagined, has any weight, is pregnant 
with monstrous mischief : the prosperity of individuals, in- 
stead of being a blessing to society, would be a calamity, if it 
were ever to be made the bar to public improvement ; and in 
works of charity men might justify their ingratitude towards 
God on no better plea than the exuberance of His goodness. 

In considering the expediency of building a church, there 
is another topic, which, however unwilling I may be to meddle 
with it, I am not permitted to pass over without notice. The 
parish of St. Pancras has long been known, as the abode, in 
a pre-eminent degree, of persons, who dissent, or at least 
secede, from the establishment. I will not enter into any 
discussion of the points at issue between the church and 
those who have left it: there is no subject, more likely to 
irritate feelings, which I would gladly allay : nor do the cir- 
cumstances of this parish permit me, if I were so disposed, to 
charge the evils of separation altogether upon the separatist. 
That these evils are, in my judgment, most alarming, I will 
not suppress ; and secession in the abstract, I mean without 
reference to the particular motives and pleas of the seceder, I 
cannot have any scruple in pronouncing to be foreign from 
the spirit of Christianity, and from the views of its founder. 
Of the religionists in question, many have my esteem : but 
we must not suffer our reverence of persons to warp our 
judgment of things. The excellence of these men consists in 
their piety, their zeal, and their active benevolence ; virtues, 
however, which, together with all others, they might, if I 
mistake not, have practised to the same extent, and with 
greater effect, in communion with the church. In a state of 
division, Christianity loses half its worth and all its beauty. 

On this part of the question I will advert only to one or 
two points : they have no connection with theological con- 
troversy. I have said, that I consider the separation from 
the establishment, to afford some ground of alarm : I do not 
see how it can be contemplated with indifference by any 
friend to his country. I am ready to admit, that no mischief 
is intended or foreseen by the great majority of those, to 
whom I allude : in general they may not be men, whom 
education, experience, or habit, has led to reflect on tendencies: 
they may only follow the multitude ; they are naturally grati- 
fied by attention ; they are struck by the impassioned gestures, 



304 



AN ADDRESS TO 



or won by the familiar address, of the preacher ; they do not 
look forward to possibilities, nor do they look backward to 
realities ; they are, for their purpose, more wisely employed ; 
they are seeking salvation, where alone, as they believe, they 
shall find it. It is to little purpose to say, that these are 
religious, not political, proceedings ; some particular mode of 
faith and worship, unless we would live in perpetual anarchy, 
must have an acknowledged ascendancy ; in other words, 
must be established; and an establishment connects the in- 
terests of the church and the state. Religious divisions, if 
there be any reliance on history, the record of experience, 
invariably lead to political convulsions ; and the process is 
very intelligible to every observer of human nature. Success 
in making proselytes generates a proud confidence in the 
truth of the principles : — numbers constitute strength; — -and 
strength cannot be employed more legitimately than in ex-? 
alting truth. The gradation is perfectly natural, and the 
reasoning, for all practical purposes, sufficiently conclusive : 
a few consequences are easily overlooked in the logic of 
ambition. 

I would further suggest, that the religionists in question^ 
however, they may be classed in vulgar apprehension among 
the adherents to the church, cannot wish to countenance the 
mistake : honourable men not only disdain imposture, but are 
anxious to correct the error from which they may derive ad- 
vantage : when this anxiety has once been evinced, the blame 
of the mistake is entirely with those who are deceived through 
want of enquiry. It is commonly remarked, that many who 
have seceded from the church still retain its liturgy, and 
hence it is supposed that they are still in communion with the 
establishment. It is much to be regretted that even unedu- 
cated men are not better informed on a point of so much mo- 
ment. The identity of a church consists not merely in its 
liturgy, but also in its discipline ; and if it is to be inferred 
that every man is of the church of England who adheres to 
its doctrines, it may as well be argued, that every man is of 
the church of Rome who is attached to episcopacy : the doc- 
trine and the discipline must both be considered in speaking 
of a particular church. Our church knows nothing of the 
ministrations of persons not episcopally ordained. 

In offering these observations, nothing can be further from 



THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. PANCRAS. 305 

my intention than to give offence to any class of Christians ; 
my subject requires me, it even compels me to discriminate. 
We must not be told, when we are seeking accommodation 
for the poor, that to a considerable degree they already have 
it. They have it not in this parish, if they wish to remain in 
communion with that church whose discipline it is my duty 
to support, and whose preservation I sincerely believe to be 
inseparably connected with the piety, the morals, and the 
peace of England. In short, if to the class of Christians to whom 
I allude, I have any thing to object, independently of theo- 
logical considerations, which I studiously avoid, and of poli- 
tical consequences, to which I think the well-disposed among 
them not sufficiently attentive, it is, that they are, on the 
whole, theoretical rather than practical men. I can hardly 
be misunderstood ; I mean not to say, that they do not prac- 
tise, as much as other men, what they profess, but only that 
their views of what is practicable are not warranted by any 
fair experiment. They seem to require in the aspect of society 
the purity of manners, and the holiness of demeanour, which 
are exceedingly to be desired, but which can hardly prevail 
in large bodies of men brought together fortuitously, however 
a certain degree of seriousness may be generally maintained 
among persons who congregate from similarity of sentiment 
to communicate their disgusts, and to lament, what indeed is 
every where visible, the corruption of human nature. 

But though I have thought it my duty to offer some ob- 
servations on the general character and mischiefs of division, 
I am ready to acknowledge that in this parish little or no 
blame attaches to the seceders ; they may plead that they have 
no alternative. Are they to live without the public exercise 
of religion, and to bring up their families in heathen igno- 
rance, because it is their lot to reside in a parish which has 
not provided for the religious wants of the members of the 
establishment? They are clearly required to sacrifice the 
weaker scruple to the stronger. It is the duty of every Chris- 
tian to make public profession of his faith in the Redeemer ; 
and if he cannot do this according to the method which his 
conscience prefers, and in the society of persons with whom 
he agrees in all essential points of doctrine and discipline, he 
is permitted, and even bound to join that congregation to 
whose tenets and practice his conscience is least repugnant. 

x 



306 



AN ADDRESS TO 



I am well assured that such has been the reasoning of many 
among you, whose faith and virtues no longer illustrate the 
excellence, or support the credit of our national church. I am 
not, indeed, inclined to believe that the public attachment to 
the established religion, however discouraged by our neglect, 
is deeply impaired. Your own parish church is usually 
crowded long before the commencement of the service, and 
numbers are constantly seen to retire for want of accommod- 
ation. It is reasonable to infer that these frequent disap- 
pointments deter many others from a similar attempt; and 
that the same excellent disposition would operate in propor- 
tion to the encouragement afforded it by a suitable church 
placed in a more convenient situation. In the out-parishes of 
the metropolis all the churches are well attended, especially 
by the poor, where they have room. 

But while we vindicate the persons who are thus constrained 
to make " divisions among us," what is to be urged in behalf 
of those " by whom the offence cometh ?" To toleration, 
understood in any practicable sense, I am as much a friend 
as any man ; but toleration supposes an establishment, as the 
exception supposes the rule; and in what manner are the 
poorer members of the established church treated in this pa- 
rish ? Not content with tolerating those who differ from us, 
we persecute those who agree with us ; unless the withholding 
from them the mode of worship which they actually prefer, 
and compelling them either to embrace another, or else to 
live without any, deserve a milder appellation. It does not 
lessen the disgrace of this proceeding, that it is peculiar to 
the members of the establishment. It was stated at a late 
meeting, that the sectaries of various denominations within 
this parish have rather more than txmce the accommodation in 
their places of worship that we have in our church and cha- 
pels. I believe the statement to be much within the truth ; 
but who would ever have anticipated the inference, that there- 
fore we have little need of a parish church ? Has not this 
disproportion arisen in great measure from the want of pro- 
vision for parochial worship, and especially of seats for the 
poor ? But if such an argument have already some weight, 
in twenty years time it will be absolutely conclusive : the dis- 
parity will then be very much greater. Our population ap- 
pears, from the returns to parliament, to be increasing at the 



THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. PANCRAS. 



307 



rate of 1,400 persons yearly; and if no provision be made for 
these in the established church, the argument will then be, 
that the sectaries have thrice or four times the accommod- 
ation enjoyed by the members of the church. Even then I 
should not think more highly of such reasoning, whatever 
might be my surprise, if it were not to prevail. 

But it is not merely accommodation for adults which is re- 
quired in St. Pancras : serious inconvenience arises from the 
want of a church in the education of children. This parish, 
like most others in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, 
abounds in schools. In an age in which so much has been 
written on this subject, I need not urge the necessity of incul- 
cating religious principles in early life : I would, however, 
suggest, that it avails but little to inculcate such principles in 
private, unless they be matured into a habit ; and that in a 
creature so constituted as man, religious habits, even if they 
be acquired, will not long be retained without the aid of pub- 
lic example. The lessons of the nursery must derive their 
efficacy from the service of the church. Of the boarding- 
schools in this parish, I have observed the children of several 
in the different chapels ; though I have reason to know, that 
more of them would attend the service of the church, if they 
could any where find room. One of the first applications 
which I received on coming among you, was on this very 
subject. But of the children of the poor, it is impossible 
to hope that many of them are educated in the principles of 
the national religion. Of those at the workhouse, a portion 
attends at the parish church; the whole of them would oc- 
cupy too much room : but the intended appointment of a 
chaplain will afford religious instruction to all of them ; and 
I rejoice that such an appointment has at length been thought 
expedient. The children of the female charity-school have 
seats assigned them at Fitzroy Chapel by the kindness of the 
very liberal proprietor; and the ladies of Kentish Town have 
most humanely established a day-school for girls who regu- 
larly attend the village chapel. Of the remaining poor chil- 
dren of my parish, who amount to some thousands, I neither 
know, nor can know, any thing: many of them, I would 
hope, attend the service of the dissenting congregations ; but 
many more, I fear, have never been accustomed to attach any 
idea of sanctity to the seventh day, but pass it in idleness, if 

x 2 



308 



AN ADDRESS TO 



not in vice and profaneness. It is with the view of affording a 
remedy to evils like these, that the National Society is endea- 
vouring to give efficacy to the admirable system of Dr. Bell ; 
but unhappily that system cannot be introduced among us in 
the present state of this parish to any considerable extent. It 
is the object of that great instructor, not merely to teach the ele- 
ments of useful knowledge, but to inculcate the principles of 
piety and order: not merely to enable the children of the poor 
to become more skilful mechanics, or more intelligent servants, 
but to make them the sons and daughters of their country, and 
to attach them to its venerable institutions by the force of 
early association. That they may " hear and hold fast the 
form of sound words," he does not commit them to chance, or 
to what is little more to be depended upon, the care of igno- 
rant or irreligious parents, but he sends them to the parish 
church, wherever there is one in which they can be assembled, 
and places them, where our canons suppose them to be placed, 
under the eye of their parochial pastor, that they may be cate- 
chised, instructed, and confirmed in their Christian faith. 

I feel, however, that I have trespassed on your time, and I 
hasten to conclude. I am sufficiently sensible, that where 
things have for some time been wrong, it is difficult to im- 
press the mind with the necessity of amending them : in learn- 
ing to endure, we at last become indifferent. But from this 
state of indifference, if unhappily we have reached it, it is 
time that the most torpid should awake. Of the parishes in 
the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis, St. Pancras 
is marked by its backwardness in improvement ; and two of 
the contiguous parishes have recently afforded it an instructive 
and salutary example. Marybone has obtained an act for 
building a church and two or more chapels ; and of Islington it 
is impossible to speak in any other terms than those of ad- 
miration. With a population of less than a third of that 
of St. Pancras, and with a spacious parish church, which 
till lately was adequate to its wants, it has procured an act, 
authorising a rate of 2s. 6d. in the pound (though the whole is 
not yet required) for building a chapel of ease, and for an ad- 
ditional burying ground. I am well aware that so splendid an 
example is not the best suited to communicate the first im- 
pulse to emulation; but it is no less obvious to ask, what is 
there in the condition of a parish possessing a rateable rental 



THE PARISH TONERS OF ST. PANCRAS. 



309 



of two hundred thousand pounds, which can require it to shrink 
from comparison with the humblest of its neighbours? In 
what does St. Pancras differ from other parishes, except in its 
wealth, the lowness of its poor's rate, and the want of parochial 
establishments ? But I trust that the era of our improvement 
has at length arrived : if not, younger men than myself may 
despair of living to see it. The same objections will continue 
to be urged, and the same interests exerted to defer it : but of 
these interests every year will augment the strength, and the 
objections it will be still more difficult to refute when they have 
been once triumphant. These reflections I earnestly recom- 
mend to all who would listen to the advocates for delay. 

To the " details of the plan," which have already been 
submitted to you, I am not aware that much can be added : 
the luminous and comprehensive mind from which they pro- 
ceeded, was not likely to overlook any thing of importance. I 
would only observe, that the proposed situation of the ?iew 
church will be such as to afford the desired convenience in 
the highest conceivable degree. Supposing it to adjoin the 
New Road near the Bedford Nursery-Ground, it will be 
central to 35,000 parishioners, of whom the most remote will 
be within five furlongs of their parish church : besides, that 
the new and yet unfinished buildings are principally within 
half that distance. The present idea is to make the church 
capable of accommodating 2000 persons, leaving about half 
the seats open, and also to reserve a certain number for the 
use of the different schools. To such a church it is objected, 
that it will contain but a small proportion of the inhabitants : 
but it ought to be remembered, that this accommodation will 
be in addition to that which already exists ; and that a church 
which accommodates twice on every Sunday 2000 persons, is 
adequate to the actual exigencies of a population of at least 
five times that number. In speaking of a congregation, we 
must omit the very old and infirm, the very young, the sick, 
persons absent from home, at least one servant in every fa- 
mily, the careless and indifferent, and those who attend other 
places of worship. With such a church, therefore, as that 
which is proposed, and with the enlargement of the chapel at 
Kentish Town, every cause of reasonable complaint will be 
effectually removed. 

In conclusion, I request you to accept my solemn assur- 

x 3 



310 



AN ADDRESS TO 



ance, that in the whole of this proceeding I have been actuated 
by a regard to the welfare of those whom Providence has 
committed to my care. I scruple not to confess the pain with 
which I contemplate the present state of this most important 
parish. My notions of what is right in matters of this kind 
may perhaps exceed what is actually practicable : it is possible 
that my temper may be sanguine ; and in quitting my situation 
in the country, I may not have relinquished certain ideas of 
pastoral superintendence which do not altogether accord with 
the powers of a clergyman in the metropolis. These con- 
cessions, however, do not materially affect the question. No 
argument is weaker than that which maintains, that we should 
not attempt what is possible because we cannot accomplish all 
which may be desired. The condition of this parish is ca- 
pable of almost incalculable improvement ; and the foundation 
of that improvement must be laid, if any where, in the act for 
building a parish church. This will make you members of 
a new community : — it wall excite a feeling for the common 
good : — the rising generation will be early trained to habits 
of piety: — the rich and the poor will assemble together be- 
fore the Universal Parent : — you will acquire an interest in 
the honour and dignity of your parish : — parochial charities 
will start into existence ; and the tablets which shall record your 
virtues, preserved to your descendants in the sanctuary of the 
Most High, will teach them lessons of piety and benevolence 
through the force of hereditary example. For myself, I de- 
clare, that whatever portion of health and activity a merciful 
Providence may yet reserve for me, it is my wish to devote it 
to your service. I cannotj if you w T ill but enable me to be 
useful, desire a fairer field. I came among you with this in- 
tent ; it was the only advantage offered me : it was not to be 
purchased without heavy sacrifices; but if I can obtain it, 
I shall feel no regret. To those who promote this great un- 
dertaking by their counsel, their influence, or their pecuniary 
aid, I offer my warmest thanks. In the midst of vehement 
and angry debates, I have to acknowledge, that scarcely in 
any instance have I been treated with personal disrespect : a 
few misrepresentations I can cordially forgive. I have found 
encouragement where I had least right to expect it ; and some 
of those who have disappointed my hopes, have increased my 
esteem by candid and manly explanation. It is my earnest 



THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. PANCRAS. 311 

prayer, that the Almighty may prosper the exertions which 
are directed to your temporal and eternal good ; and that 
those of us, who are now estranged from each other by con- 
trariety of sentiment, may yet " walk together in the house of 
God as friends." 

I am, my Christian brethren, 

With great respect and regard, 
Your affectionate and faithful servant, 

T. F. MIDDLETON. 



St. Pancras Vicarage, Kentish Town, 
25th November 1812. 



LETTER 



FROM 

THE RIGHT REVEREND 

THE LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA, 

ADDRESSED TO 

THE REV. ANTHONY HAMILTON, 

SECRETARY TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF 
THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. 



A 

LETTER, &c. 



Calcutta, 16th Nov, 1818. 

REVEREND SIR, 

I have received your letter, conveying to me a copy of the 
proceedings of the Society in the month of March last, on the 
subject of India missions; from which it appears, that the 
Society have placed at my disposal the sum of 5,000/., and 
invite my more particular suggestions as to the most prudent 
and practicable methods of promoting Christianity in this 
country. The Society may be assured, that I have been much 
gratified by this communication, and that I shall, with the 
Divine blessing, heartily co-operate with them in an enterprise 
so honourable to our established church, and commenced 
under auspices which give it the character of a national effort 
to disseminate in these regions our holy faith in its purest 
form. 

In offering to the Society my opinion as to what may be 
prudent, with reference to the safety of the measure, I can 
feel no embarrassment : the danger, generally speaking, of 
attempting to propagate Christianity in this country, is not 
the difficulty with which we have to contend : ordinary dis- 
cretion is all that is required : and every proceeding I should 
consider to be safe, which did not offer a direct and open 
affront to the prevailing superstitions. In any attempt to 
enlighten, to instruct, or to convince, experience has abun- 
dantly shown that there is not the smallest ground for alarm ; 
and this, I believe, is now admitted by many, who once re- 
garded such attempts with manifest apprehension. A more 
remarkable change of sentiment has seldom been effected 
within so short an interval. 



316 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA 



The question, however, what may be practicable, so as 
most effectually to further the Society's views, is much more 
comprehensive. Experience does not hold out much encou- 
ragement to efforts, which rely for their success entirely on 
the effect to be produced by preaching ; they seem rarely to 
have excited any interest beyond that of a transient curiosity : 
the minds of the people are not generally in a state to be 
impressed by the force of argument, and still less to be awak- 
ened to reflection by appeals to their feelings and their fears : 
and yet preaching must form a part, a prominent part, I ap- 
prehend, in any scheme for the conversion of these people : 
what is further required seems to be a preparation of the 
native mind to comprehend the importance and truth of the 
doctrines proposed to them : and this must be the effect of 
education. The Scriptures must also be translated, and other 
writings conducive to the end in view. 

To embrace and combine these objects, therefore, I would 
have the honour to recommend to the Society the establish- 
ment of a Mission College, in the immediate vicinity of this 
capital, to be subservient to the several purposes : — 

1. Of instructing native and other Christian youth in the 
doctrines and discipline of the church, in order to their be- 
coming preachers, catechists, and schoolmasters. 

2. For teaching the elements of useful knowledge and the 
English language to Mussulmans or Hindoos, having no 
object in such attainments beyond secular advantage. 

3. For translating the Scriptures, the liturgy, and moral 
and religious tracts. 

4. For the reception of English missionaries to be sent out 
by the Society, on their first arrival in India. 

It may be expected that something should be offered in 
explanation of my meaning, under each of these heads. 

1. One object proposed in this establishment is the training 
of native and Christian youth to be preachers, schoolmasters, 
and catechists. Such, I have no doubt, might be found in 
sufficient number, when it was understood that they would 
be fostered in a respectable establishment, with the assurance 
of an adequate provision upon leaving it : and I am clearly 
of opinion, that though native teachers by themselves will 
never effect much, our religion will make little progress in 
this country without their aid : the native Christian is a 

20 



TO THE REV. ANTHONY HAMILTON. 



317 



necessary link between the European and the Pagan : these 
two have little in common : they want some point of contact; 
the European and native mind seem to be cast in different 
moulds : if the Hindoo finds it very difficult to argue as we 
argue, and to view things as we view them, it is scarcely 
more easy for us to imagine ourselves in his condition, and to 
enter into the misconceptions and prejudices, which obstruct 
his reception of the truth : the task is much the same as that 
of a man, who, in the full maturity of understanding and 
knowledge, should endeavour to divest himself of these, and 
to think as a child. 

It may have been observed, that I have mentioned the 
education of native and other Christian youth : in which I 
include a class of persons who, though born in this country, 
are to be distinguished from natives usually so denominated, 
being the offspring of European parents : and I had more 
especially in view the sons of missionaries, who might be 
glad to avail themselves of this opportunity to bring up their 
sons to the same profession. It may not, perhaps, be improper 
to add, that, when I was in the south of India, specific pro- 
posals of this kind were made to me by missionaries of the 
Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. 

2. Another of the objects proposed is to afford to native 
children instruction in useful knowledge, and especially in 
the English language, without any immediate view to their 
becoming Christians. It seems now to be generally believed, 
that little effect can be produced by preaching, while super- 
stition and extreme ignorance are the prevailing characterise 
tics of the people. We have not here, indeed, to encounter 
barbarism : the impediments to conversion are probably much 
greater than really rude and uncivilized life ever presents : 
the progress of our religion is here opposed by discipline and 
system ; and by these alone, with the Divine blessing, can it 
ever make its way : the tenets of superstition are inculcated 
in early life : the popular writings are generally tales fami- 
liarising the mind with the achievements of Hindoo divinities ; 
and the Brahmin possesses an almost unbounded influence 
over the people committed to his care. While this state of 
things prevails, the truths of the gospel are heard unheeded : 
they are not perceived to be truths, nor is there much dis- 
position to examine them : they appeal to no recognised prin- 



318 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA 



ciple, and they excite no interest : the Hindoo, if he reflect 
at all, finds atonement in his sacrifices, and a mediator in his 
priest. 

It is conceived, therefore, that one great instrument of the 
success of Christianity will be the diffusion of European 
knowledge : it seems almost impossible that they, who in 
their childhood shall have been accustomed to use their minds, 
can ever afterwards be capable of adopting the absurdities 
and reverencing the abominations now proposed to them 
as truth, and the acceptable worship of God : it is hoped that 
by enlarging the sphere of their ideas generally, we shall 
teach them to enquire at least upon subjects, on which we 
do not professedly instruct them: and that they, who have 
been emancipated from superstition, may in time be brought 
to a knowledge of Christ. 

I have, however, laid particular stress upon the teaching 
of English : if this were generally understood through the 
country, it would, I doubt not, entirely alter the condition 
of the people : it would give them access to our literature and 
habits of thinking ; and the familiar use of it would tend very 
much to dissipate the prejudices and the indifference, which 
now stand in the way of conversion. Our language is so 
unlike every thing Oriental, not merely in its structure, but 
in the ideas to which it is made subservient, in imagery, in 
metaphor, and in sentiment, that a competent acquaintance 
with it seems unavoidably to lead the mind of a native into 
a new train of thought, and a wider field of reflection. We, 
in learning the languages of the East, acquire only a know- 
ledge of words ; but the Oriental, in learning our language, 
extends his knowledge of things. 

The introduction of our language, however, into this coun- 
try to any great extent, is, in the present state of things, to 
be wished for rather than to be expected. To the acquisition 
of it there has not been much inducement. For almost every 
purpose of intercourse with the natives, we have learnt their 
languages, instead of inviting them to learn ours : the effect 
of which has been, that they have hitherto known little more 
of our religion, our science, and our institutions, than may 
have transpired in an intercourse which had other objects in 
view. Still, however, parents are found, who are anxious 
that their children should acquire our language, especially in 



TO THE REV. ANTHONY HAMILTON. 319 



the neighbourhood of the presidencies ; and this disposition 
is increasing : a knowledge of English is found to facilitate 
the intercourse of the natives with the commercial part of 
the community, especially since the opening of the trade; 
and it is useful in some of the public offices. Of this dis- 
position, we should avail ourselves as far as we can : neither 
is there a backwardness to attend schools for instruction in 
general knowledge; the only restriction is, that we do not 
introduce the Scriptures, or books directly inculcating our 
religion ; and even that is by no means rigidly enforced. 

3. In the third place, I would make the Mission College 
subservient to the purpose of translations. Much has, indeed, 
been done or attempted in this way ; but by no means, as 
I have reason to believe, so much and so well, as to make 
this department of missionary labour superfluous or unim- 
portant. We still want versions, which, instead of being the 
work of one or two individuals, should be the joint produc- 
tion of several, taking their allotted portions of Scripture, 
submitting their tasks to approved examiners, and sending 
the whole into the world under the sanction of authority. 
Rapidity of execution, and the carrying on of many versions 
at the same time, should not be among the objects aimed at : 
it is not to be expected, that standard works can be thus 
produced. To the same department would be committed 
translations of our liturgy, that thus copies of the prayer-book 
might accompany the Scriptures : hence also might emanate 
translations of useful tracts, or original ones better adapted 
perhaps than any which yet exist, to the use of the natives : 
and it would be proper to include under this head what pro- 
bably has not yet been attempted, I mean something which 
might convey to converts an idea of the nature of Christian 
society, and the constitution of the church. Success, how- 
ever, in this department, evidently supposes the College to be 
well established, and great progress to have been made in 
the languages by the persons connected with it) and at no 
period, perhaps, could it supply the number of labourers 
required : but it would doubtless receive assistance from 
without from persons abundantly competent to afford it, and 
be a point of union for the exertions of all, who would wish 
the native Christianity of India to be that of the established 
church. 



320 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA 



4. In the last place, I consider the College as affording 
great advantages to missionaries coming from England, upon 
their first arrival : they would here live in the society of per- 
sons, whose minds were directed to the same pursuits : they 
would have in the moonshees attached to the institution every 
facility for acquiring the languages : they would have the use 
of books, and they would acquire a knowledge of the manners 
and opinions of the natives, before they proceeded to their 
destined scene of duty. Every missionary must, in fact, have 
been a year or more in the country, before he can be at all 
efficient ; and no where could he pass this interval so profit- 
ably as in such an establishment. 

It is obvious, however, that this plan will require con- 
siderable funds. The 5,000/. already voted will probably be 
sufficient to defray the expence of all requisite buildings, in- 
cluding the purchase of land. The annual expence of the 
establishment is a subject of separate consideration : in the 
beginning we should require at least two persons, and after- 
wards three, to be permanently attached to the seminary, as 
professors or teachers : and these should be clergymen of the 
church of England. The salary of the senior could not be 
well less than 400 sicca rupees per month, or 600/. per annum ; 
and that of his colleague or colleagues 300 sicca rupees per 
month, or 450/. per annum ; and I should hope, that men 
well qualified for the work, and really actuated by zeal in such 
a cause, (without which all other qualifications would be use- 
less,) might be induced to accept the appointments : in addi- 
tion to the salary, a residence capable of accommodating a 
family would be assigned to each. Two moonshees or native 
teachers would cost together about 100/. per annum. Ten 
students, as above described, might be fed and clothed for 
about 500/. per annum ; and a small establishment of servants 
would require about 100/. per annum. These different heads 
of expenditure make up an annual sum of 2,100/., supposing 
three professors ; or 1,650/. with two. Besides this, a print- 
ing establishment would in a few years require to be supported; 
and native schools would also be attended with some expence 
(about 36/. per annum) for every school of one hundred 
children, besides about 20/. for building a room or shed ; 
but for this I have little doubt, that the liberality of the Indian 
public would in great measure provide, as has lately been 



TO THE REV. ANTHONY HAMILTON. 



321 



done with respect to the schools of the Calcutta Diocesan 
Committee. I do not know of any contingent expences, 
except repairs, which in the case of new and substantial 
buildings could not amount to any thing considerable for the 
first twenty years. 

But we are to recollect, that our institution has for its lead- 
ing object the education of persons who are afterwards to be 
maintained as missionaries, catechists, and schoolmasters, and 
to act under and in concert with missionaries to be sent out 
from England. I suppose every missionary station to be the 
residence of an English missionary (a clergyman), one or two 
missionaries educated in the college, and who might perhaps 
be ordained, or a missionary and a catechist, and a school- 
master, all from the college. This would be the state of things 
when the system was in full action, and any considerable 
progress had been made. The English missionary would be 
indispensable to direct the course of proceedings, and to give 
respectability and energy to the mission : while the native 
missionaries would be necessary not only for the tasks assigned 
them, but to give the English missionary easier access to the 
natives, and to assist him in encountering opinions and habits 
with which an European must be less conversant. It is diffi- 
cult to determine, or rather to conjecture, how many stations, 
thus constituted, the college, with the proposed number of 
students, might in any given period supply : much, of course, 
would depend upon the age of admission and the time re- 
quired for their studies, according to which the succession 
would be quicker or slower : but the admission might be so 
regulated as to supply any demand not beyond its actual 
power, which demand would be limited by the funds appli- 
cable to the support of missionaries, &c. brought up in the 
college. Upon any reasonable supposition, however, a college 
of ten students would very soon supply all that could be 
required for three missionary stations constituted as already 
described ; after which, if necessary, the admissions might be 
reduced. With respect to the English missionary, who 
should be a clergyman, he would require a salary of 250/. 
per annum, and his assistants from the college from 150/. to 
80/. each* according to the class of persons to which they 
belonged ; or among them 350/. per annum, — - and small 

Y 



322 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA 



dwellings, or bungalows, as we call them in this country, should 
be provided ; of which, however, the original cost is little, and 
it could not frequently recur. Independently of this charge, 
and of a small chapel at each station, to be built in due 
time, which might cost perhaps 500/., we should have three 
missionary stations well provided, at the expence of 600/. 
each, or 1800/. for the three; and if these should have 
the blessing of God, and means were found to extend the 
system, it might be done almost indefinitely with a moderate 
addition of expence within the college ; without any, in fact, 
till it should be found necessary to increase the number of 
students. 

But in this detail of annual expenditure, which I should 
hope does not exceed what may be expected from the public 
benevolence at home, when appealed to by the highest au- 
thorities, and assisted perhaps in India, I should observe, 
that some time must elapse, even in the most prosperous 
commencement of the work, before the funds required can 
be nearly so considerable as I have here supposed. The 
expence, which is to accrue without the walls of the college, 
could not arise for some time ; and even the whole of the 
charge for students would not be immediate, inasmuch as 
the professors or teachers must devote some time after their 
arrival to the acquisition of the languages, before they could 
instruct pupils unacquainted with English. The establish- 
ment would at first consist of the two English professors, 
perhaps a very few pupils acquainted with our language, two 
moonshees, and a few servants. In process of time, indeed, 
such an institution might, if blessed by the Almighty, multi- 
ply its labours and extend its operations through so wide a 
field as to baffle all present calculation of its future wants : but 
the Society, I apprehend, will not consider this remote con- 
tingency as an objection to such appropriation of any resources 
which Providence may place at their disposal. 

No funds, however, can ensure a reasonable prospect of 
success in such an undertaking, unless the persons selected to 
execute it have the requisite qualifications. The clergymen, 
sent out to conduct the labours of the college, must possess 
considerable endowments, he, of course, especially, who is to 
be at the head of it : they should be, if not distinguished for 
general scholarship, at least respectable divines, acquainted 



TO THE REV. ANTHONY HAMILTON. 323 



with the Scriptures in the originals ; of frugal and laborious 
habits ; and possessing a talent for languages : and without a 
certain ardour of character, a deep feeling of the importance 
of the duties committed to them, and a disposition to value 
success in such an enterprise more than that in any other 
human pursuit, they would not, I fear, answer the end pro- 
posed. The senior should not, I imagine, be more than thirty 
years of age, and his colleagues might be somewhat younger. 
With respect both to the professors and the missionaries, I 
would observe, that temper and manner are here of the 
utmost importance : the natives require in their teachers great 
patience and mildness : they do not feel strongly themselves, 
and they are easily disgusted by any thing like asperity or 
irritation. I hardly need add, that they should be men of 
sedate habits and of serious piety : the natives look for these 
qualities in all, who seem to them to set up for teachers, 
though they do not find it, or perhaps expect it, in their 
hereditary priesthood. Vacancies in the professorships should, 
I conceive, be filled up from among the missionaries, not 
with reference merely to seniority, but to merit and qualifi- 
cations. 

You will observe, that I have supposed the college to be 
in the immediate vicinity of Calcutta : several considerations 
make this expedient. The time appears to have arrived, 
when it is desirable that some missionary endeavours at least 
should have a visible connection with the church-establish- 
ment : the natives have a preference, all other things being 
equal, for that which is countenanced by authority; and this 
seems to point out the propriety of placing this establishment 
within the bishop's reach (I speak for myself and my succes- 
sors), that they may in some measure superintend its proceed- 
ings, and make it apparent that the propagation of our religion 
is not a matter of so little interest with us, as to be left entirely 
to persons whom none of the constituted authorities avow. 
Supposing the college to be in or near Calcutta, the bishop 
might act as visitor ; but he could not otherwise, in any degree 
which could be of use. 

Another circumstance, however, seems to indicate the 
propriety of the proposed situation : I speak with reference 
to the literary labours connected with the college. Trans- 

Y 2 



824 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA 



lations will require a concentration of all the learning which 
can be brought to bear upon the subject ; and here, if any 
where in India, is this aid to be looked for : besides, that 
translators will here have access to books which the col- 
lege-library might not for some time supply. To these 
considerations I will add what is, indeed, but an indirect ad- 
vantage, yet ought not to be wholly overlooked, that such an 
institution in or near to Calcutta will attract the observation 
of our countrymen, serving continually to remind them of 
the great object to which it is directed, and to interest them 
in promoting it, 

Upon the subject of the vote of credit, I ought to observe, 
that at the present, and I believe the usual rate of exchange, 
I should draw upon the Society's treasurer to great disadvan- 
tage : at this period the loss would be from 12 to 15 per cent. 
The most advantageous mode of remittance to India is con- 
sidered to be by the transmission of dollars, when they do not 
bear a very high price in London. 

I have thus, Sir, complied with the request of the Society 
in offering them my sentiments upon the subject of their 
inquiry. In conclusion, I beg leave to add, that the crisis is 
such as not to admit any delay, which can conveniently be 
avoided. I regret, indeed, exceedingly, that from my igno- 
rance of the Society's further views, and future resources, I 
cannot immediately avail myself of their vote of credit for the 
purposes here detailed : a year is of great importance, and 
yet a year must be lost. It may appear perhaps that the 
plan, which I have recommended, is somewhat extensive : no 
bcheme, however, which is narrow in its first conception, or 
not capable of an almost unlimited expansion, is suited to the 
temper of the times, or to the circumstances of this country. 
Our power is now established throughout this vast peninsula 
in a degree which, but a few years since, the most sanguine 
did not contemplate : civilization and religion may be ex- 
pected in the ordinary course of Providence to follow the 
successes of a Christian state ; and in every view, religious or 
political, ought we to desire, that the faith adopted, and the 
opinions imbibed, may attach the people to our national in- 
stitutions, and more firmly cement the connection of India 
with the British crown, 

16 



TO THE REV. ANTHONY HAMILTON. 325 

I request you, Sir, to assure the Society of my cordial 
desire to forward their benevolent designs to the utmost of 
my power, and that I pray the Almighty to direct them in all 
their deliberations. 

I am, 

Reverend Sir, 
Your most obedient and faithful servant, 

(Signed) T. F. CALCUTTA. 



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